


A Very Star Wars Fictober

by TheStarsMyDestination



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)
Genre: Additional Tags and Characters to be Added Each Day, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Anidala Fluff, Awkward Teenage Romance, Baby Ben Solo, Baby Luke Skywalker, Ben Solo Lives, Bring your kid to the Senate day, F/M, Fictober, Finn's soul leaves his body, Fluff, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Skype (Star Wars), Gen, Getting dressed up with Padme, Han Leia Fluff, Jedi Fallen Order Crew, Luke bails on family gatherings, Married Leia Organa/Han Solo, Missing Scene, One Shot Collection, Poe Dameron Is A Mess, Poor Dopheld Mitaka, Possibly Unrequited Love, Rey & Rose Tico Are Best Friends, Rey and Chewie are friends, Rey has bad timing, Sibling bickering, Star Wars EU-verse, Stormtrooper Rebellion (Star Wars), Tatooine desert angst, Young Rey (Star Wars), disordered eating mention, pregnancy mention, the millennium falcon is broken again
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 21,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26763721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStarsMyDestination/pseuds/TheStarsMyDestination
Summary: A Collection of Star Wars One-shots completed for the Fictober 2020 Challenge. Features a wide variety of timelines, ships, and themes, see story tags and individual chapters for more info.See notes in front of Chapter 1 for full list of summaries, but here are the latest:Day 16: Poe Dameron talks his way out of a hostage situation(Or, how the Resistance gained a pastry chef).Day 17: Mitaka has had a bad dayDay 18Han and Luke get stuck being interviewed by an over-eager historian about their time on Hoth.Day 19A TLJ missing scene, Rey convinces Chewie to help her get to the First Order certain she can turn Ben Solo back to the light.<Day 27: As Echo Base is being bombarded, Han wrestles with how to move forward.Day 21Lonely and hurt, a young Rey gets a flash of comfort and reassurance from a bond she assumes comes from her parents. Across the galaxy, Ben Solo tries to forget the strange connection to an unknown girl ever happened.Day 31Force Skype time again. Rey asks a question, Kylo Ren makes a choice.Day 26Luke and Leia bicker while plotting to free Han from Jabba's Palace.
Relationships: Cal Kestis/Merrin, Finn/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 51
Kudos: 154





	1. Day 1: Dress up

**Author's Note:**

> This is a collection of fictober prompt responses. Each one takes place in the Star Wars Universe and is a non-linear, unconnected oneshot. Some of them are short, some are a little longer. I am writing these every day, on the day, around working full time, so I apologize for any rough edges. The dream is to take the best ones at the end of the month, polish them up and expand them into "real" fics, so definitely let me know which ones you like or would like to see more of!
> 
> Here is a master list of summaries to help you curate your experience:  
> Day 1: Padmé gets dressed up in full traditional Naboo regalia -- it’s a very serious occasion, so of course Anakin can’t help but laugh.  
> Day 2: Obi-wan thought the Force would be enough to sustain him in his exile. He was wrong.  
> Day 3: I'm not saying that asking about a girl's family is how you get married on Dathomir, but I, for one, am very happy for Merrin and her new Jedi Husband.  
> Day 4: Rey finally gets around to telling her friends about her connection to Kylo Ren. They take it about as well as you’d expect.  
> Day 5: Luke calls to explain why he's bailing on the formal birthday dinner Leia's had planned for months. His excuses range from poor to passable, and Leia's responses are appropriately acerbic.  
> Day 6: Rose tries to convince Rey to let her help with repairs on the Falcon. Or, an extrovert adopts an introvert.  
> Day 7: Trust Senator Leia Organa to spin not having a babysitter into political advantage. Or try to, anyway.  
> Day 8: Ben is injured but alive, with Rey by his side. But he remembers dying...so what price did Rey pay to bring him back?  
> Day 9: Han and Chewie have a job interview with a new contact, Maz Kanata. She’s got work for them -- and news about a new power player in the galaxy who calls himself Kylo Ren.  
>  **Day 10:** In her last moments, Paige Tico thinks of her sister and of the bonds that endure with those we love.  
>  **Days 11 &12:** Kylo Ren wants to talk, Rey wants to ignore him. It's Force Skype time!  
>  **Days 14 &15**Rey seeks help from Rose in safeguarding Ben while she's away. (or, I wanted an excuse for Rose to punch Ben in the face).  
>  **Day 13** Rose and Finn catch up post-Crait.  
>  **Day 16** : Poe Dameron is captured by the galaxy’s worst bounty hunter and talks his way out of a hostage situation with his hands tied behind his back. (Or, how the Resistance gained a pastry chef).  
>  **Day 17** : Mitaka has had a bad day, but here comes a friend to cheer him up. Or at least bring him booze.  
>  **Day 18** Han and Luke get stuck being interviewed by an over-eager historian who wants to pick their brains about their time on Hoth.  
>  **Day 19 A TLJ missing scene, Rey convinces Chewie to help her get to the First Order certain she can turn Ben Solo back to the light.**  
>  **Day 27** : Another missing scene, this one from Empire. As Echo Base is being bombarded, Han runs back to get Leia.  
>  **Day 21** Lonely and hurt, a young Rey gets a flash of comfort and reassurance from a bond she assumes comes from her parents. Across the galaxy, Ben Solo tries to forget the strange connection to an unknown girl ever happened.  
>  **Day 31** Force Skype time again. Rey asks a question, Kylo Ren makes a choice.  
>  **Day 26** Luke and Leia bicker while plotting to free Han from Jabba's Palace.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fictober Day 1: Padmé gets dressed up for a gala in full traditional Naboo regalia -- it’s a very serious occasion, so of course Anakin can’t help but laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 1 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts! 
> 
> Today's prompt is: “No wait, come back”.
> 
> I didn't even know I shipped Anidala, I wasn't a big prequels person and just never thought about it. But when I read the prompt this little ficlet was the first thing that jumped into my head. And once it was in my head, it wasn't leaving unless I wrote it. And now I am completely charmed by their dynamic. I usually write for Reylo or Stormpilot, so this was an interesting exercise for me. Let me know what you think!
> 
>  **Warnings/Tags** : Anidala fluff

"No, wait come back! _Padmé_. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. You look wonderful. Really. Come back."

"You know I don't choose these costumes," Padmé said irritably, turning to face him in the doorway. She wore a very formal, very traditional gown. As she paced into the room, her heavy, many layered skirts swished around her, skimming across the floor. She did a full turn on the landing, which only caused Anakin to double over laughing again. Frowning over him, she surveyed her reflection in the windows overlooking the city below. "The feathers are a bit much," she conceded, "but the Queen insisted that everyone from Naboo wear traditional attire."

"Did she insist on the ruffles, too?"

"The...ruffles and streamers are traditional."

"And those colors??"

She sighed audibly. "Each color symbolizes the harmony of --"

"Padmé," he said through streaming eyes. "You know I think you're beautiful, even...even if you are dressed like a Shyyyo bird that fell into a name-day cake, candles and all!"

She started to protest, hands on hips, but he rushed forward and swept her up into a hug, spinning her around and pressing kisses into her neck. 

"Anakin, you're crushing my dress!!" She cried in protest, one hand gripping his shoulder, the other holding her headdress in place. But she was laughing now too. She felt light as a feather, lighter than she had in months and months. She squealed as he spun her around again. 

“You’re going to make me late!” 

“Here, let me help you.” He reached behind her and yanked her headdress back into place and began attempting to fluff some of the feathers. In truth, the effect of the ensemble was ruined, but she’d never tell him that. She didn’t mind. She’d wreck a thousand dresses if it meant getting to see Anakin smile, to see him laugh. He had been so moody lately...but then they'd both been so busy. Adjusting to his new position here on Coruscant couldn’t be easy for him, she reasoned. And then she felt like she was always tired, with the Senate and now the baby. 

The truth was that as often as she had longed for him, she’d never in all their years together thought through what a real, day-to-day life with Anakin would look like. They had always lived such separate lives. It was out of necessity, of course, a cover so the love they shared could remain a secret. Lately, though, he seemed to need her more. And truly she didn’t mind this, welcomed it, even. She could be his rock, she could do that for him. 

Suddenly she wished she could shirk her official duties and stay home. Wreck the rest of this dress and spend the evening with Anakin. It was an attractive idea. But no. This was no mere social event. This gala would provide the cover for vital networking. It was risky, perhaps, to be out in the open as much as she was, but it was also necessary to build the kind of future she wanted for her family. Back-channel diplomacy would be working in overdrive tonight and Padmé had her part to play. 

As though he could read her thoughts, Anakin pulled her close again and mumbled into her shoulder: "It would be simpler if you just stayed here, where I can protect you."

"And when have our lives ever been simple?" 

Neither of them had an answer to that one. So instead they just stood there, still in each others' arms. It may be different, but it felt right, having him here. The two of them together, as it should be. No, she rested a hand on her belly, the three of them. It was just like he'd told her before: this was a happy moment. A blessing. And nothing as insubstantial as bad dreams was going to take that from them. 

A chime sounded somewhere behind them, announcing someone at the door. 

"Duty calls?" Anakin asked, pulling back. 

"Oh, Anakin, it's never-ending. You know that." She smiled up at him, expecting him to crack a joke about the Senate, but instead he just stared at her with a strange intensity. “What’s wrong?” she asked reflexively, searching his face.

"I -- I love you." He said it with such conviction, such finality, that Padmé was suddenly afraid, though of what she couldn’t say. Again he seemed to sense her thoughts and continued: “It’s just...I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“And you’ll never have to find out.” With a rustle of fabric, she stretched onto tip-toe and pressed a kiss gently to his lips. Her heavy makeup left a little mark behind, like an afterimage. It made him look ridiculous, but she resisted the urge to wipe it away. Call it payback for laughing at her dress. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it."  
  



	2. Fictober Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding friends worth dying for? That's the easy part. Being the one left alive when they’re gone? That's when it gets hard. Obi-wan thought the Force would be enough to sustain him in his exile. He was wrong. But when he is at his lowest, a surprise visit from Beru Lars with little Luke in tow changes his perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Gigantic thank you to the people who have left kudos and comments. You guys are literally the very best people in the world.**
> 
> This is Day 2 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “that's the easy part”
> 
> I was originally going to write this one about Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker, but I wasn't sure that anyone even knows who Mara Jade is these days?? Let me know if you'd like to see that, and I'll post it as an addendum. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags** Obi-wan being an angtsy tatooine hermit, depression, disordered eating mention
> 
> In the meantime, here is some Obi-wan angst with some little-kid Luke cuteness to balance it out. I had originally imagined this as just Obi-wan musing about life on Tatooine, but then Beru Lars jumped in unexpectedly and started talking so I knew I had to have her as well.

The years passed in a sandy haze for Obi-wan Kenobi, out on the edge of the Dune Sea. It was fine, at first. He had always meant to practice his meditation, to hone various crafts, and now suddenly he had the time. Those first five years developed a rhythm and routine. He helped wherever he could, of course, set himself up as a sort of protector to the locals. When times were difficult, he would share what little he had, dropping off bundles on doorsteps in the deep of night. Despite this, he never got close to any of the people around him. He kept even Anakin’s son at arm's length, for both their protection. This arrangement suited the boy’s Uncle Owen just fine. However, unexpectedly, it was Beru Lars who insisted on keeping Obi-wan updated on Luke's progress -- first steps, first words. He would never say it, but he was grateful to her. 

"I had an Uncle Ben, you remind me a little of him," Beru had told him once, during a chance meeting in Anchorhead, bouncing baby Luke on her hip. “He had that far away look in his eye, just like you.”

He kept to his routine, to his self-imposed duties. And if they were not as grand as his former duties as a General for the Republic, well...it kept him sane. 

Until it didn’t. 

Looking back later, he couldn’t recall the reason why he didn’t finish his daily rounds, that first time. Maybe it was the pain in his shoulder? He was no longer young, and the desert was harsh. So he cut his walk short, just the once. Then, maybe a week later, he just stayed home. And then stayed home again. And again. 

Similarly, he couldn't remember making the conscious decision to stop eating. But, he reasoned, his caloric need was lessened since he was no longer walking all over creation every day. Logically, he wouldn’t be as hungry. It made perfect sense. Nothing to worry about.

He continued going through the motions. It didn’t get really bad until he began neglecting his water intake. That was when the visions started. His Old Master Qui Gon. Padme. Satine. Even Anakin, whole and good, as he would never be again. Each of them he had loved, he would have died for. These were the kind of people who left great gulfs of grief behind them. And out of all of them, it was only he, solitary old Obi-wan who remained. Once he had friends. Once he had a place. These had held him steady. But who was Obi-wan Kenobi, Jedi Master and General, without the Jedi or the war? 

Always he had been one among many. He had never been on his own, not like this. His solitude became omnipresent. It filled the rooms in his home with almost tangible loneliness and with regret until there was no air left to breathe. He felt for sure he would be crushed into nothing. He tried to call to the Force, but his connection slipped through his fingers like so much sand. 

The sun continued to move across the wall, but one day Obi-wan did not move with it. The shadows on the wall told him that another day had passed. And then another. 

The visions continued, a kaleidoscope of faces and memory. And then there again came Qui Gon. Obi-wan was older now than he had been when he had died. He wondered what his old master would make of his life

“I couldn’t save them, Master," he said, aware that he was talking to nothing, but needing to say it anyway. "I’m sorry. I couldn’t save them.”

The vision of Qui Gon smiled at him, then suddenly shifted as someone stepped through. A new figure, wreathed in light...a woman? He felt an easing in his heart. Was this death? 

But this woman was real and very much alive. She stepped under the awning and her image resolved into Beru Lars, a basket balanced on one hip, firmly gripping the hand of a little boy. Obi-wan felt his eyes flutter shut. 

“Come on Luke, help me get him up,” Beru said. He heard her set down the basket. 

“Is he dead??” the boy whispered.

“No, dear, he isn’t dead, just very tired. Help me get him up onto the couch, there we are.”

Obi-wan opened his eyes and found himself face to face with a young boy. He was small, with blonde hair and big blue eyes. Like Beru, he was dressed in a tan robe, hand-stitched. Seeing Obi-wan was awake, the boy jumped backward towards his aunt. 

Beru smiled down both at of them. Wordlessly, she handed Obi-wan a beaker. He took it without question and sipped a little, then started gulping it down. The revitalizing effect was almost immediate. 

“Luke, this is Ben Kenobi. Go on, introduce yourself.”

“Hello,” Luke said, suddenly shy, one hand clutching Beru’s pant leg, the other holding a toy spaceship. 

“Hello there,” he said, forcing himself to smile. Anakin’s son could talk and walk and everything, that little bundle was now this boy, young but so grown up. Wonder of wonders. “How...how old are you, Luke?” That was the kind of thing you were supposed to ask children, right?

“This many!” Luke said, holding up 6 fingers and flashing a grin that showed off his missing front tooth. 

“That certainly is a lot,” Obi-wan said, not knowing how else to respond. How long had it been since he had spoken to a child? With a pang, he remembered the younglings at the Temple. Obi-wan studied the boy. He didn't look particularly like either of his parents, not at first. But there was in the grace of his movement something that reminded Obi-wan of Anakin. And those eyes, intelligent and kind, those were Padme. It made Obi-wan’s heart swell and his eyes mist over. 

Luke, on the other hand, did not share Obi-wan’s enthusiasm. 

"Aunt Beru, I'm bored, this is boring. There were these big rocks that we saw outside, can I go and look at them?? Not to climb,” he said hurriedly, “But just to look!”

"What's the magic word?" 

"Pleeeaaaaase, can I please please go outside??"

Beru furrowed her brown and tapped a finger to her chin, as though very seriously considering the request. Luke positively buzzed with anticipation. Finally, she relented, "Yes, you may, but only if you promise to be careful."

Luke whooped and darted towards the door, flying his toy spaceship beside him. 

"What's the rule?" Beru called after him. 

"Stay off the loose sand, don’t run off!" Luke recited on his way out the door. 

Obi-wan chuckled. 

"You’re to be commended,” he said. “I’ve never seen a Skywalker so well trained. And I tried with his father for years."

Beru smiled. “It must be a family trait. Owen is just the same, impossible to manage."

"But you can't fault the enthusiasm," Obi-wan replied, and they both laughed. 

Beru busied herself in his tiny kitchen, unpacking the rest of her basket. He continued to sip the concoction she’d given him, slowly coming back to himself. He looked around the room for the first time in what felt like weeks. The place was not at its best. How had he let it get this bad? 

“How did you know to find me?” he asked. 

“You hadn’t responded to any of my messages, but then you hardly ever do so I didn’t think anything of it at first. But you’d never missed sending something for Luke’s birthday before. So I asked around. No one at Anchorhead had seen you come through in weeks. Everyone assumed you were dead.”

“Dead?" Obi-wan asked, indignant, "I was fine on my own,” he said, trying to salvage some of his injured pride. 

Beru shook her head. “You’re as stubborn as my brothers.”

“I didn’t know you had brothers.”

A normal person would have missed her small hesitation, but Obi-wan was, or rather had been, a Jedi. He immediately realized he'd misspoken, stepped in something. Half a second later she was bustling around again. 

“That’s because I don’t anymore,” she said briskly. “They died. Killed by Sand People years and years ago. Around the same time as Owen’s mother, they took most of my family, too.”

“My condolences,” he said formally, “I know how hard it is to lose the people you love.”

Wordlessly, she handed him a fresh cup of liquid, which he took and immediately began to drink. This one was thicker, more savory. He had not realized how hungry he was until she and Luke had shown up. 

“Careful, don’t drink too much at once, you’ll make yourself sick.” 

Beru crossed the room and sat down in the chair opposite him. Looking down at her hands folded neatly in her lap, she said: “But thank you, for...the condolences. It’s funny, some days they’re all I can think about, but other times I can go a whole day without remembering. I’m honestly not sure what’s worse. Surviving, that’s the easy part. It’s living without them afterward, that's hard,” she looked around the house again, seemingly to take in its dilapidated state. Then she turned back to Obi-wan. He realized with embarrassment that he must look as disheveled as the house. “You know, for a long time, I felt guilty. Like I could have saved them if I’d been there. And then, sometimes, I’d feel like I should have died, too. Or died in their place. It would have made more sense than being left behind.”

Obi-wan swirled the juice in his cup and took another gulp but didn’t say anything. 

“But I tell myself that even if I couldn’t help then, I can help them now.”

“How?” He asked, genuinely curious.

“By taking care of myself. Saving what they loved, which was me. And later, what they would have loved, which is Luke. No one’s ever really gone. Not so long as someone lives who remembers.”

She looked up into his face now, serious and grave. “Ben Kenobi. You brought Luke into our lives, and for that I will always be grateful. Owen, too, though he's too stubborn to ever say so to your face. I love Luke more than anything in this life, do you understand that?"

Obi-wan nodded. 

"One day my little boy is going to grow up. And he’s not going to be a farmer, anyone with eyes can see that. He’s going to need you. So tell me, right now: when that time comes, you'll be there for him?"

"Yes, of course." 

He said it immediately, without hesitation. She nodded and he felt a new purpose take root deep within his soul. Perhaps it was the after-effects of his dehydration, but he could almost see Luke grown up, sitting in this very room. He'd be all Anakin’s kinetic energy and Padme’s kindness. And somewhere out there, there would be a young woman similarly blessed. She would need him, too. 

“See, that wasn’t so hard,” Beru said, standing up. “I’ll leave you with some provisions for now, but promise me you’ll take care of yourself, for Luke's sake. You’re no good to anyone if you let yourself starve. And -- oh goodness, Luke.”

At that point, Luke had come bounding back into the house. He was covered head to toe in dirt and babbling about how he had jumped from the highest rock and not even hurt himself, so really Aunt Beru didn’t need to worry at all and it was so fun and -- Beru sighed, threw an exasperated but kind glance at Obi-wan, then threw a few things back into her basket. With a few perfunctory goodbyes, they were gone. 

The house once again felt empty, the oppressiveness of the solitude was gone. Luke and Beru had breathed new life into it, and into him. He was filled now, not with despair or ambivalence as before, but with hope. He felt peace. His friends may be gone, but in their memory he would continue to live. To protect what they loved. He would carry this feeling through the quiet years ahead until a chance meeting with Luke and two droids set the story in motion once more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts! See you tomorrow!


	3. Day 3: Pieces of Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not saying that asking about a girl's family is how you get married on Dathomir, but I am very happy for Merrin and her new Jedi Husband.
> 
> (featuring BD-1 as the best wingman (until he isn’t), Greez being cranky, and Cere just wanting to read a book in peace.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 3 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts! Today's prompt is "you did this?"
> 
> I needed to write something mostly cheerful after yesterday. I loved Jedi Fallen Order, but have never written anything for these characters before, so it was a fun experience. 
> 
> Another huge shout out to the folks who have left kudos and comments, you are my very favorite people!!!
> 
>  **Warnings/Tags** : Jedi Fallen Order spoilers (if you haven't played the game you may not know or care who any of these folks are, so no hard feelings if you click on through).

“Wait, _you_ did this?” 

“Cal Kestis. I am sitting here, in front of a painting, holding a paintbrush. So I think the easy answer would be, yes, I did this.” Merrin replied, raising both eyebrows at him.

From across the tiny lounge, Cere snorted with laughter. She shook her head without looking up and swiped to turn the page on her tablet. Cal ignored her. 

Merrin was, indeed, holding a paintbrush. A newly completed painting and a tray of colors were propped precariously on the low table in front of her. The painting was of three women, but done in an impressionist style rather than realistic like a photo. It seemed odd at first, but the more Cal looked at it, the more it captivated him. This style gave the illusion of motion and life so that the women in the painting seemed to breathe. It was as though he was looking through a window and caught them mid-conversation; any moment they'd look up and see him. 

“It’s…” 

“Not very good, I know,” Merrin finished for him. 

“No, it’s great!” Cal said hurriedly. “It’s really good! I could never make something like that.”

Merrin sniffed in disbelief. “Of course you could.”

“I couldn’t. Jedi training didn’t involve much art, so I never learned.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to him: “Hey! Maybe you could --”

“You don’t want me to teach you,” Merrin said, shaking her head. 

“No, I do. I really do.” 

Merrin looked up, eyes searching his face. What she saw there, he didn’t know, but apparently, he passed whatever test it was because suddenly she was moving over to make room for him. 

“Alright, sit down. What do you want to paint?”

“Uhh…” Honestly, Cal had not thought that far ahead. BD-1 chirped helpfully from his shoulder and Cal grinned. “Good idea, buddy!” he pointed to the flowers nearby, sitting in their lit terrarium. “Can I start with something like the plants?” 

This appeared to be a good answer, as Merrin nodded. He shot BD-1 a grateful smile and the little droid trilled happily.

“That is a good idea. Start simple with something in front of you. Pick just one of the flowers and, here --” she pulled out a piece of paper from her stack and placed it in front of him. Then she pushed a stylus into his hand.

“Now, sketch it.”

Never had a blank page been more intimidating. He had no idea where to start. He snuck a sideways glance at BD-1, who hopped obediently off his shoulder and onto the table below. BD-1 looked at the page, then back at Cal before bobbing up and down in a little shrug. Suggesting a subject seemed to be the limit of the little droid's help. Meanwhile, Merrin was looking at him expectantly. 

“But how do I do that, exactly? I can’t just...draw it," he said.

“Do all Jedi give up so easily?” Merrin wondered aloud. He felt his ears turning red. 

“If you don’t want --” he started to get up, but she pulled him back with a gentle hand. 

“Sit down. Okay. Everything is made up of shapes. Look at the watering can on the bench, it’s actually a cylinder and a triangle joined together --”

“I know the witch isn’t touching my hydroponics back there!” Greez shouted from the cockpit. 

“It’s _Nightsister_ ,” Merrin called back to him without turning. “And shouldn’t you be flying the ship?” 

“So it’s about seeing things not just by what they are, but by what makes them up?” Cal asked quickly, cutting off further protests from Greez. “Like, their energy?”

“Exactly!” Merrin said happily, “I knew you would get it. And for us -- people from Dathomir, I mean - when we paint we think not just about the shapes that make them up, but the actions that brought them there. When you are painting a warrior,” she gestured down at her work, “you are not just painting the woman.”

“You’re not?”

“No,” Merrin replied, as though the question was elementary. “You’re painting everything that brought her there. You _must_ hold it in your head when you paint. It is the only way it will be a true painting. We are, all of us, made up of the collective choices of ourselves and our ancestors.”

“So when you paint them like that...you’re always connected to them?”

“Yes. Even when they’re far away, or gone.” She said this with a note of sadness in her voice, looking down. He followed her gaze back to the figures on the paper. It dawned on him that this was more than just a painting of some random Nighsisters. They were Merrin's family.

“Tell me about them?” Cal asked, nodding down at the painting. 

Merrin stiffened and withdrew back into the couch. “I was a child when they died. There is so much I don’t remember, so many things I never got to learn.”

“Tell me about them, please?” Cal asked again, gently. He leaned forward, meeting her halfway. She warmed and sat up again. On an impulse, he reached out and put his hand over hers. Unlike the other times they'd touched, which had been fleeting, she didn’t move away. Instead, she smiled at him and he felt his stomach flop over. 

_"A-hem."_

Their hands flew apart as Cere cleared her throat. She rose from her spot on the couch and, without looking at either of them, walked out towards the cockpit. As an afterthought, she doubled back, scooped up a protesting BD-1, and carried him away as well. Cal watched them go out of the corner of his eye, but Merrin’s gaze never left his face.

“Do you really want to hear about my sisters?” she asked quietly, once Cere had gone. 

Cal took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts. Talking to Merrin was a little like scaling the ice walls on Ilum. Each movement was a gamble...would gain a foothold, or would he overreach and fall to the bottom again? Other than what he’d learned on Dathomir, Cal knew nothing about Merrin’s life. And though he hadn't put it to words yet, he found that he _did_ want to know what had brought her here. Like the painting, it was the only way to know the true Merrin. He looked up at her again and found her still staring at him, her dark eyes wary, waiting for an answer.

“Yes, I do."

Merrin nodded sharply, face set, as though a decision had just been made. She looked so intense, he thought at first he'd done something wrong. But then she reached over and, much to his surprise, closed her hand around his own and squeezed.

“Cal, I _will_ tell you about my sisters. And then you will tell me about your family, the Jedi.”

“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts :)
> 
> See you tomorrow!


	4. Battlefield Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fictober Day 4: Rey finally gets around to telling her friends about her connection to Kylo Ren. Finn and Poe take it about as well as you'd expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 4 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “That didn't stop you before”
> 
> I am not sure if this counts as full-on crack!fic, but it's _decidedly_ silly in tone and I had a lot of fun writing it. While it's a little canon-divergent, it does run with the theme from TROS that Rey and Kylo Ren have feelings for each other. I 110% recognize that reylo (no matter how light) is not everyone's cup of tea, so no hard feelings if you want to click on through. But it is written to be kinda silly so who knows, you may get a kick out of it even if it's not normally your thing.
> 
>  **Warning/Tags** Silly, Reylo implied.

“Finn, Poe...I have to tell you something!”

“Is this really the time?” Poe shouted back. The three of them were sprinting down the halls of Kylo Ren’s Star Destroyer, having just stolen a knife out of his quarters. Why they had stolen this knife or why the thing was suddenly so significant was beyond Poe. All he knew was that they had what they needed and now they needed to get out, preferably before the group of stormtroopers chasing them caught up. 

“What is it?” Finn asked, pulling her behind a row of crates. “Poe, can you cover us?” 

With a groan Poe threw himself behind a set of crates opposite, squeezing off a few shots at their pursuers. 

“I can’t kill Kylo Ren,” Rey said without preamble.

“What??” Poe and Finn shouted in unison.

“I can’t do it. If I’d known he was here, I wouldn’t have come. I can’t fight him again. Not now.”

“Why not??”

“He’s…too powerful??” she offered, unconvincingly. 

“That didn’t stop you before!” Poe exclaimed.

“Yeah, you took off half his face, right? You were great!” Finn added.

“I know, right? I hadn’t even trained with a lightsaber yet! But -- no, you’re right, it’s not actually that he’s too powerful. Things have _changed_ between us...the Force connected us and through the bond I learned the truth about Snoke, about the night Luke's Jedi Temple fell, about so many things. We’ve been talking a lot over the past year. Ever since we first touched hands --”

“Touched hands??” Poe shouted over at them. “Is that...is that some kind of Jedi euphemism for --”

“No! Ben and I haven’t --!” Rey said, face turning pink. Then she added: “...Not yet, anyway,” and turned pinker still.

Finn stared at her open-mouthed, looking like his soul had just left his body.

“Not yet???” Poe shouted, darting across the hall until he was next to the others. “Not _yet??_ Are we or are we not talking about you banging the most evil man in the galaxy?!!?”

"He is _not_ the most --"

“Rey,” Finn said, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her slightly, “I want to trust you, but this is _crazy_.”

Just then, a deep voice behind them said: “There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Poe and Finn both instinctually turned and fired at Kylo Ren, who reached out an impossibly giant hand to deflect and redirect the blasts. He then lifted his other hand and their remaining pursuers fell limply to the ground. Poe readied another shot, but his aim was thrown off as Rey pushed past him. She ran down the hall towards Kylo Ren, skidding to a halt a few feet in front of him. 

“I thought you were dead,” Kylo said, reaching out to take both of her hands in his. 

“No such luck,” Rey replied, beaming up at him. 

“We have to get you out of here.” 

“I know, but we can’t leave without Chewie.”

“I know where he is, I can take you there.”

“Thank you.”

“I missed you,” they said in unison, gazing into each other’s eyes with soft smiles -- as though they were the only two people in the galaxy and _not_ in the middle of a firefight in a hallway strewn with bodies and blaster burns.

“This is weird, right? It’s not just me?” Finn asked out of the corner of his mouth.

“Definitely not just you, buddy,” Poe replied. 

Rey and Kylo turned as one to face them as though they’d just remembered the others were there. 

“This way, hurry --” Kylo began, placing one hand on the small of Rey’s back as he led her towards another doorway.

Finn started to follow them, but Poe stood firm. 

“Wait a minute! I’m not taking another step until you explain what the hell is going on here.” He may be losing it and this may be the only way out, but dammit, he deserved some answers first. 

Rey and Kylo Ren exchanged A Look as though trying to decide how best to answer. Their unspoken connection was not easing Poe’s mind. Finally, Rey turned back and took a long, deep breath. “Okay, you know the spy in the First Order?”

“Yeah, the one who’s been sending us intel for the past year? Of course. The First Order would have crushed us without their intel. What about them?”

“Well…you’re looking at him” she gestured up at Kylo Ren who, completely deadpan, gave a little wave. 

“Are you SERIOUS????”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts! See you tomorrow!


	5. Day 5: RSVP

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia’s had this formal birthday dinner planned for months, but at the last minute, Luke calls to explain why he suddenly can’t make it. The excuses range from poor to passable but none of them are acceptable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 5 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “unacceptable. try again" and this one goes out to all the sisters who've had their little brothers bail on family events at the last minute!
> 
> I really struggled with today's prompt and went through several different concepts before landing on this one. But I ended up still having a lot of fun, once I landed on a clear vision. The dream with all these oneshots would be to take my faves and expand them out into their own longer fic, and I could definitely see myself doing that with this one. I am counting this as taking place in the EU universe because I mention Mara Jade, and I'm playing the characters a little looser, perhaps, than they are portrayed in the current Disney Canon. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags: Luke and Leia sibling banter, Han/Leia fluff**

Leia had finished her hair and was starting makeup when the comm button next to her chirped. Knowing in an instant who it was and why they were calling, she tapped it on with a long, loud sigh. 

“Unacceptable,” she said immediately, “Try again.”

“...I didn’t say anything yet!” Luke said, indigent on the other side. 

“I know. It doesn’t matter what you say, whatever your excuse is, it’s unacceptable.”

“If you don’t want to hear it, why did you say try again?” he asked. 

“Because I’m looking forward to hearing whatever half-baked excuse you come up with for not coming to our Birthday Dinner tonight. The one I’ve been reminding you about for the past three months?”

“ _Leia._ ” 

“ _Luke_.”

“Okay, I can’t go because...I don’t have clothes for that kind of party.”

“You have an outfit pressed and waiting at your apartment. I confirmed delivery hours ago. Try again.”

“I’m on a secret mission for the New Republic.”

“Unacceptable. If you were, I’d know about it. My security clearance is higher than yours. Again.”

“I’ve been kidnapped?”

“How kind of your kidnappers to let you call your sister. One more try.”

“Then I’ll tell you the truth.”

“I can’t wait.”

“I can’t make it because...I’ve found a Jedi artifact off-planet and am currently stuck down a hole with the former Hand of the Emperor trying to dig it out.”

“That’s...better,” Leia said, pausing as she lined an eyelid, “but still unacceptable. I added Mara Jade to the guest list specifically so you’d have someone to talk to.”

“Hey, is that Luke?” Han asked, sticking his head around the corner of their bedroom. “If he’s not going, then I’m not going!”

Leia swiveled on her stool, brandishing her eyeliner brush at him. 

“Han, you’re going!” She said in a tone that broked no argument.

“...Okay, okay, I’m going, I’m going,” Han replied, holding his hands up placatingly and backing out of the room. “Sorry, Luke!”

“It’s not even our real birthday,” Luke continued, his voice tinny over the comm. “That’s not until tomorrow. And we’ve got plans together for then. Why is tonight so important?”

“Luke, I’m a politician. I have to have an official birthday dinner. It’s expected.”

‘You’re not one to do something just because it’s expected.” 

“How can I explain it so you'll understand...It’s a tradition. On Alderaan, we always had two celebrations. My mother used to say that the night before was for our people, the day-of was for family. I don’t know...Luke, the big dinner, it always felt magical to me. Especially when I was young. And even when I grew up, and I could see the political machinations spiraling around me, there was still something special about it: my whole family standing together in front of everyone on my birthday, a united front...I never had siblings, growing up. And now that I have one, I want to share that with my brother.”

There was a long pause.

“I’ll be there tomorrow, I promise. Something’s come up tonight -- I’ll explain later, but I’ve got to go. You know I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t important.”

Leia paused, lining her other eyelid, letting the silence stretch out. They both knew at this point that she was going to let him off, but she wasn’t going to make it easy. 

“Okay,” she said at last, “You’ll definitely be there tomorrow? At the Lake?”

“Of course! Listen, I’ve got to go. Tell Han I said goodbye!” He cut the connection. 

Leia stared down at the now dormant comm button. She sighed, her eyes soft and unfocused in the mirror as she remembered how her family had stood together on her nineteenth birthday, the last she’d had with them. Not that they’d know at the time that it was the last. You never did, did you?

Han was suddenly behind her. She looked at him in the mirror, eyebrows raised, ready for a sarcastic remark. Instead, he placed his hands bracingly on her shoulders. 

“Not everybody was raised a Princess, sweetheart,” Han said, with that strange kindness he seemed to reserve just for her. She closed her eyes and leaned back against him. He was warm and solid and comforting, but she knew he didn’t want to go to this political dinner any more than Luke had. 

“I just hate the idea of standing alone at the top table.” 

“Hey, I’ll be there.”

She opened her eyes and regarded him incredulously in the mirror. “You mean it?”

“Well I’d been led to believe I didn’t have a choice, but --” he held up a finger to still her protests, “-- but even if that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t miss it. You won't be alone. Yeah, I'll be there. And Chewie will be too, if we can find a chair big enough for him, and I’m sure we can find some other people. It may not look like Alderaan, but we’ll make it work.”

“I love you,” she said, blotting her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to save her makeup. 

Han winked at her in the mirror and pressed a kiss into the top of her head. “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Yeah, ok, similar ending to Day 1, but like...it's poetry, it rhymes.)
> 
> I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts! See you tomorrow!


	6. Day 6: Rey and Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fictober Day 6: Rose tries to convince Rey to let her help with repairs on the Falcon. Or, an extrovert adopts an introvert.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 6 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “that was impressive"
> 
> I love Rey and Rose and headcanon them as being very close friends. We were positively robbed when TROS didn't let them have a single scene together. Here's a short scene of them meeting for the first time. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags** : Rose and Rey are best friends

“Hello! Anyone in here? Helloo -- oh! You’re in the _floor_!” 

Rey looked up in alarm to see a girl in faded green fatigues peering down at her through the steel mesh of the _Falcon's_ flooring panels. 

"Hi there!" the girl said. "You must be Rey! I brought some parts that came in for you through requisitions,” a canvas bag clunked heavily to the floor, “and some food!” these were two paper bags, deposited more lightly. Without wasting time, the girl dropped to the access hatch in the floor and peered into the area Rey was working. “What’s the issue?”

“Ahhh...I’m sorry, who are you?” Rey pulled herself out from between decks and into a sitting position. She stretched her back, surprised by how stiff she felt. How long had she been down there? She could remember saying goodbye to Chewie and then getting to work, but that couldn't have been more than an hour ago. “Where...where's Chewie?”

“He’s with the General, has been all day,” the girl said brightly, settling down cross-legged on the floor, “and I heard you might need another pair of hands until he comes back. I’m Rose Tico,” she reached her hand down for Rey to shake. 

Rey stared at her outstretched hand. Rose. Of course. Finn had told Rey about their trip to Canto Bight, their misadventures on the _Supremacy_ and on Crait. How he owed Rose his life. 

“I’m Rey," she said, shaking Rose's hand lightly. "I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you --”

“It’s okay, last time you saw me I was probably unconscious,” Rose winced at the memory, then quickly brightened, “but I’m much better now. Though…” she faltered, playing nervously with a gold pendant hanging around her neck. “I’m not technically cleared for duty. But I was going stir crazy! And I was talking to Finn and we both thought, well, that maybe I could help here for a while? I just want to be useful,” she added quickly by way of explanation.

Rey considered this offer. She was used to working alone. Even sharing the ship with Chewie continued to be an adjustment. More than that, Rey had a lot on her mind. Fixing the ship was supposed to be her distraction, something to do while she tried to process everything that had happened to her on the _Supremacy_. She wasn’t sure she wanted to give that up to help this stranger and the things on her mind she _definitely_ didn’t want to share with a stranger. But Finn trusted this girl. And Rey trusted Finn’s judgement...maybe even more than she trusted in her own, considering her recent choices. And if he’d sent her Rose...

“I understand wanting to be useful, to have a place,” Rey said cautiously.

“Exactly! Me sitting in bed isn’t helping the Resistance. So...you’ll let me stay?”

Rey hesitated for half a moment more, then nodded. Rose looked elated. 

“I’m so excited to work on a ship like this! Finn was telling me about how you’ve been rigging together the electrical systems, even making adjustments midflight -- that was impressive!”

“It would be more impressive if it still worked,” Rey observed dryly. 

Rose shrugged goodnaturedly. “You got us all here, which is the important thing.”

“But now the third stage motivator isn’t working, so every time we try for a full power-up --”

“-- it cuts out after the first five cycles. Definitely don’t want that happening, even if you can adjust on the fly!! Hmmm…How about this," she tossed Rey a ration bag, which she caught easily, "you get up here and eat and I’ll take a look and see if we can’t fix whatever’s the issue. Sound good?” 

Suddenly remembering how hungry she was, Rey tore open the top of the ration bag. Rose had gotten one of the good ones; it even came with a cookie. Pulling herself up to floor level so she could eat, Rey beamed. “Sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts! See you tomorrow!


	7. Day 7: Take your kid to work day??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fictober Day 7: Trust Senator Leia Organa to try to spin not having a babysitter into a political advantage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 7 of the Fictober 2020 event's prompts!
> 
> Today's Prompt is: "Yes I did, what about it?"
> 
> This one is super short! The concept is a blend of several sources, which I link to in the end notes. One thing this doesn't follow is disney canon, which I think had Ben being raised by a kitchen helper droid? I just couldn't do it to the little guy.
> 
> I almost skipped today, as I had something else come up. I have been staying up way too late, but I am so proud of myself for making it to Day 7 and didn't want to break my momentum. I work full time, so I write them in the limited hours between finishing work, dinner, bed, and household chores. I've never done anything like this before, so your comments, kudos, and views mean so much.
> 
> Notes at the end on the inspirations behind this one.

“And that concludes our opening statements with -- " Senator Depallo paused suddenly, looking up from the pages in front of him for the first time in the course of his speech. His brow wrinkled as he focused in a particular seat in the large hall before him and began staring open-mouthed. “Is that…Senator Organa. Have you brought your _child_ to this meeting?”

There was a murmur of surprise as all attention swiveled to Senator Leia Organa and her repulsorpod. Her toddler son sat quietly on her lap, one hand wrapped in her hair and the other clutching a wooly wookie doll. His large, dark eyes darted around, unsure under the sudden attention. He snuggled closer to his mother. For her part, Leia was unmoved. She reached purposefully forward to activate her microphone. 

“Yes, I did. What about it?” Leia asked laconically. 

“This is a closed session,” Senator Depallo said, as though that explained everything. 

“How observant you are. I fail to see what this has to do with my son.” 

“Well. Um," the Depallo glanced around, as though he hoped to find the words. The boy in question was now chewing gently on the arm of his wookie doll, looking up at his mother. "He's not an elected senator or their staff, so technically he's not allowed in this meeting."

Leia pursed her lips but didn't speak. From behind her, one of her aides lightly cleared his throat before leaning forward and whispering in the Senator's ear. Leia nodded. 

"My aide tells me that all orders to expel a member of a senator's retinue from the chamber must be made in writing. Do you have it in writing?"

"Well I didn't notice him until I looked up, I can certainly write --"

"Then his presence wasn't a disturbance to you?" 

"No, but, Senator Organa, you can't bring a child to a Senate hearing."

Leia glanced back at her aide, who had leaned forward once again to whisper into her ear. 

"Actually, I'm now told that even if you did have it in writing, I couldn't send him away on the written request alone. As a minor, he can only be released to his legal guardian. And as my husband is currently off-planet, I am my son's sole guardian. So you see, I couldn't send Ben away, even if I wanted to. But now that you bring it up...Since we are making decisions that will affect the future of the entire galaxy, it seems fitting that a representative from those future generations is present. Maybe in this way, we can remember the billions of children and their families who will be directly affected by the decisions made here in this chamber. It is our charge to ensure that he grows up in a galaxy that is safe from tyranny, in a galaxy where individual worlds are empowered to decide what is best for themselves and the future of their children."

"Fine, he can stay," Senator Depalllo shuffled his pages, trying to locate his place. "But he had better behave."

"Thank you for your understanding. I'm sure Ben will be a perfect angel. Please, continue with your opening statements."

As the speaker resumed, Leia turned off her microphone feed. She glanced back at her aide and asked quietly: "Did you know all that, Thomas? Or did you make it up?"

Thomas shrugged, "It doesn't matter. Can you hear what they’re whispering?" Leia shook her head and he supplied: "’Trust Senator Organa to try to spin not having a babysitter into a political advantage.’ I don’t know that it would be wise to use that ploy again, ma’am."

Leia rolled her eyes, bouncing Ben a little in her lap. 

"Let them think what they want, a victory is a victory. But do me a favor, please -- send Han a message and tell him he'd better be back before tomorrow's session."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, didn't have a ton of time today so this concept was heavily influenced by a few sources I'd like to acknowledge: 1) [@theblackpcnther on twitter ](https://twitter.com/theblackpcnther/status/1313659180734205952), who had a tweet I saw the other day about Ben sitting on his mother's lap during senate hearings. 2) Licia Ronzulli, an Italian politician [who used to take her daughter to EU votes](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2510440/Enchanting-little-girl-following-footsteps-MEP-mother-EU-Parliament.html). 3) [Wolf Hall ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Hall)by Hiliary Mantel, which features Thomas Cromwell advising Cardinal Woolsey from the shadows in a similar fashion. It's streaming on Prime if you haven't watched. 
> 
> Anyway! I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts (cut me a little slack on this one, though ;) I didn't have a ton of time today)! See you tomorrow!


	8. Chapter 8: Being Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 8: Ben wakes up post-TROS, injured but alive, with Rey by his side. But he remembers dying...so what price did Rey pay to bring him back?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 8 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “I'm not doing that again."
> 
> If you're like me, you've thought a lot about how Rey could possibly bring Ben back after the events of TROS. If all magic has a price (even space wizard magic), what price would Rey have to pay here? What would that mean for her and Ben moving forward? I don't know the full answer yet, but here's a start. I didn't expect to write this today, but if you're into it let me know as this is the kind of beginning I could see myself editing properly and expanding into a "real" fic in the future. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags** This is a reylo oneshot, so no hard feelings if it's not your thing and you need to click on through.

Ben was certain he was dead. The last thing he remembered was cold. Cold, and Rey’s face -- not bad, for a last look. He had felt a pang of guilt as he left her, but the gift of her life meant his death -- if that was the price to pay, then so be it. The galaxy needed Rey. It would survive without Ben Solo. He’d made his peace with it, embraced it even as he'd fallen from her arms...which was why he was confused to suddenly hear voices, sounds, light, to feel warmth around him. His eyelids fluttered and he stirred. 

“Welcome back,” said a voice beside him. 

With an effort, he opened his eyes and saw a grey ceiling and grey walls. Maybe he was dead after all. Then who was the voice? It had been a familiar voice... With an effort, he turned his head and saw --  _ Rey _ . And suddenly his world was in color again. 

“What, where --” he began. He struggled to sit up, but the effort was too much. 

“Take it easy, you’re okay -- you’re in the Resistance base hospital. I...I’m so glad you’re awake.” Her voice cracked slightly on the last words, quickly covered. He felt pressure on his hand and looked over to see her clasping it tightly between her own, as though she was afraid he would float away. To him, she looked as beautiful as ever, but he could also see that she looked tired and drawn. Rather than the usual buns, her hair was loose around her shoulders and her clothes were rumpled, as though she'd slept in them.

“I, ah, thought I was dead,” he said, a note of embarrassment in his voice. His thoughts seemed to be working at quarter speed. He kept trying to look around, to get more information about his surroundings, but he kept getting caught up in the way the lights caught the highlights in Rey’s hair.

“Maybe you were dead, for a while,” she said softly, then continued in a stronger voice: “but you’re better now. You tried to give your life to me. All of it. I didn’t need it all. So I...I gave some back.”

“It can’t be that simple.”

“Maybe not,” Rey said, looking away. He thought he felt her hand tremble in his, just slightly. “But we’ll deal with that later. What matters is that you’re here. That’s  _ all  _ that matters.”

“Rey, that’s not how it was supposed to end. The corruption in me, even after you healed me the first time, it was too much to overcome. There’s too much --”

"You don't understand, it's over now. Snoke, Palpatine, the First Order. It’s all over,” her brow furrowed, sensing his feelings, “but you're still afraid.” 

She could see into his mind now, he knew, see what he was thinking. But a door once opened works both ways. 

"So are you,” he said. “You're as frightened as me, I can feel it.” There was something there in her mind, something she didn’t want him to see. Not light, not dark, but strange and terrible. And it was connected, somehow, to him. He looked into her face, forcing her to make eye contact with him. “Rey. What did you have to do to bring me back?"

“Don’t ask me that now,” she said. She leaned forward and cupped his face in her hand, running her thumb tenderly along his jawline. “What matters is that you're back. Even if you’re afraid, I’ll always be there. We'll help each other. We'll survive."

He tried to reach for her, to put his arm around her waist, but the movement was cut short by a sudden burst of pain. He winced and she looked at him with concern.

"I’m fine -- it just hurts," he said, by way of explanation. 

"Welcome back to being alive, Ben,” she said, chuckling a little. Her hand slid away from his face. “You rest. I should probably go tell the doctors that you’re awake. And there are some people I want you to meet." 

“But you’ll come back?” He kept his voice even, but his eyes were wide. He did not want to be alone in this strange place. 

“I'll always come back. I left you once before. I’m not doing that again. Not ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Acknowledging some sources/inspiration again -- [ I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts! See you tomorrow!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW8IaLXvOgk%0A>it's%20Adam%20Driver%20singing)


	9. Day 9: A New Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Han Solo and Chewie have a job interview with a new contact, Maz Kanata. She’s got work for them -- and news about a new power player in the galaxy who calls himself Kylo Ren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday! This is Day 9 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “will you look at this”
> 
> I love thinking about "missing scenes" in canon, I love the extra context. So here's my take on Chewie and Han meeting Maz for the first time. I also wanted to introduce that maybe there's a reason why Han went off running around the galaxy after everything went down at Luke's Jedi Temple?
> 
> As always, such a thank you to the people who have commented and left kudos. I value you feedback and encouragement beyond words.
> 
>  **Warnings/Tags** This is very gen Han and Chewie having a job interview, so no warning I could think of.

“This place is jumpier than Mos Eisley on payday,” Han said to Chewie without looking up. Around them, the bar on Takodana thrummed with people, music, and talk. Han swirled his drink casually in one hand, trying to mask his nervous energy. He wasn’t used to this anymore. “Remind me how you met this lady?” 

Chewie answered truthfully, as he always did. The response made Han stopped swirling his drink immediately. 

"On the holonet? Chewie we are going to get murdered.”

Chewie threw up both hands and growled out his disagreement.

“I don’t care how long you’ve been messaging her. Why didn’t you tell me before --”

“You must be Chewbacca!” a voice said. “And just as handsome as your picture,” she winked at him, “I’m Maz Kanata. Who’s your friend?” Han looked around, then down and saw that the voice belonged to a diminutive woman dressed in unassuming, but functional clothing. Her face was covered in deep wrinkles and she wore a large pair of spectacles over her eyes.

Chewie introduced Han, who nodded in acknowledgment. 

“Ah yes, Han Solo. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Knock around the galaxy as much as me and Chewie and reputations start to proceed you. I heard that --”

“Will you look at this?” Maz asked abruptly, waving a hand in the air as she slid into a seat. Seemingly from nowhere, a lackey came forward and placed a wood box on the table before melting back into the crowd. Han glanced down at the box, then over at Chewie, who shrugged in confusion.

“Is that what you need to transport?” He had a bad feeling about this. Nothing good came in a package that small. Look at Leia. 

“This is unrelated. Something I picked up,” Maz said mildly, her hand resting casually on the wooden lid. “With your connections, I felt you should have first right of refusal.” She opened the box and pushed it towards Han. Gleaming inside was a familiar silver cylinder. Han, who had been leaning forward, snapped back reflexively as though it might jump up and bite him. Beside him, Chewie growled out an expletive. 

“Where did you get this?” Han said, fighting to keep his voice calm. 

Maz smiled and favored him with a knowing look. “Oh, I keep my eyes and ears open always. You know how this business is. You never know what you’ll find.”

“Like…” he lowered his voice, leaning forward again, “like Luke Skywalker’s old lightsaber?”

Chewie made a noise beside him and Han rolled his eyes at the correction. “Fine, like Luke’s _dad’s_ old lightsaber.”

Maz continued to smile placidly up at him. “I thought you’d like to know --’

“Well, you thought wrong. Luke’s gone. He disappeared after…” a flutter of emotion passed over Han’s features, quickly stifled. “Well, he disappeared anyway. My wi -- _Leia_ was upset about it. But it’s nothing to me.” He pursed his lips and pointed a finger at Maz. “Look, lady, if you’re thinking I’m gonna buy that thing, you’re wrong. You keep it. I don’t need any of that hokey Jedi crap. It’s done me more harm than good.”

Maz studied his face. He met her gaze at first, but then looked away, unable to take the intensity. Looking to break the tension, he reached for his drink and took another swallow. He noticed several eyes had slid over to their table at his outburst. If they were going to fly under the radar, he needed to rein it in, and fast. 

Finally, Maz shut the wooden box with a firm thud. 

“Oh, this one is not for sale. Some things are too dangerous to have out and about. I just wanted you to know where it was, just in case. Something tells me that this will be needed, later.”

Han let out an exasperated breath and forced a thin smile. What the hell was that supposed to mean? “Fine. Now about our deal? Chewie says you’ve got cargo? We’ve got the ship for it.. _._ ” he began. Some of his cockiness returned whenever he slipped back into his old sales pitch. But it felt like putting on an old sweater that had shrunk in the wash; it didn’t quite fit the man he had become. Still, it was all he had and he would work with it. He was prepared to do that. What he wasn’t prepared for was Maz interrupting him again. 

“I heard,” she said, talking over him, “that there’s a new power player in certain sectors of the galaxy.”

“Yeah? Not the Hutts again, I hope,” Han said. Chewie murmured agreement.

Maz shook her head. “Not the Hutts. The Knights of Ren. You’ve heard of them?”

There was a sudden inhalation of breath from Chewie, but Han’s smile never faltered. “No,” he said with forced casualness, “should I have?”

“They say that there’s a man who’s joined them. Goes by the name of Kylo Ren. No one knows who he is or where he came from. But he’s strong and he’s capable and he knows how to wield the force. And here you are, suddenly, looking to run cargo into that same sector. In fact, from what I’ve heard, you’ve taken jobs into every sector of the galaxy where Kylo Ren has shown up for the past eight months. If I didn’t know any better, I might think that you were trying to keep an eye on him.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you know better,” Han said, leading back in his chair, playing idly with the edge of the table to hide his nervous energy. ‘What does this matter to me what -- Kylo Ren, you said is the name? What does it matter to me what this Kylo Ren does. My partner and I are just trying to make a living here. If you’ve got cargo, let’s do business. If not, then thank you for the hospitality, but we’ll be on our way.”

Maz laughed and sat back in her chair. She waved a hand and that same lackey came to spirit the box away to wherever it had come from. 

“The famous Han Solo doesn’t disappoint. You want business? Okay. Let's talk business. I need to get a shipment out of Bracca. Scrap, but valuable. You’d need to be fast, and you'd need to avoid the First Order. Think you two can handle it?”

“Yes we --”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Maz said to Han, turning her attention instead to Chewbacca. “Do _you_ think you two can handle it?”

Chewie laughed, then growled an affirmative.

Maz nodded. “My people will be in touch. Enjoy yourselves in the meantime,” she said, getting to her feet. “I look forward to seeing how this plays out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts! See you tomorrow!


	10. Day 10: Last Rites for a Daughter of Otomok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In her last moments, Paige Tico thinks of her sister and of the bonds that endure with those we love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 10 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “all I ever wanted”
> 
> I think this one is actually kind of cheating, and I apologize. I always found Paige's death in TLJ to be very heartbreaking and, as an older sibling myself, I can't help but wonder what was going through her head. I wanted to expand on her last moments and include parts of my own headcanon backstory on how the Ticos got their necklaces. I had more, but ran out of time!
> 
>  **Warnings/Tags** It's about Paige Tico's last moments, so angst and character death

Consciousness returned in a rush of noise and pain. Paige took in a ragged breath, eyes darting all around, heart pounding. She was lying prone on the metal catwalk of her bomber. The detonator, still flashing, was above her, balanced precariously on the edge of the deck above. 

Immediately, she knew what she had to do. She kicked the ladder, hard as she could. The detonator trembled slightly from the impact but did not fall. In a panic, she kicked it again. And again. And again. The detonator merely wobbled on the edge of the grating, taunting her. 

She closed her eyes, trying to center herself. Adrenaline induced hysteria pressed in from all sides, but she had to  _ think _ . If Rose were here, she’d know exactly where to aim, where the weak point in the railing spot was. Rose always knew how things worked. Paige closed her hand around the pendant around her neck, the metal warm against her hand. 

Paige had been given the necklace the day Rose was born. They had been in the observation room of their home on Hays Minor, snug and safe under a sky full of stars. Her mother explained that the pendants once belonged to the grandmother Paige had never met, but were now to be for her and Rose.  _ You’re a big sister now _ , her mother had told her,  _ you have to protect her, to take care of her _ . _ Just like Grandma did for her baby sister. _ Her father, holding baby Rose had laughed.  _ They’ll take care of each other _ , he said,  _ our Rosey is going to be a sharp one, I can tell _ . 

Paige had accepted the gift, and the charge, with all of the solemnity a six-year-old could muster. She had worn it close to her heart ever since. Then when Rose had been old enough, she wore her necklace as well. And so it had been for years -- The Tico Sisters, two daughters of the Otomok system, looking up at the stars together. When the First Order’s pollution had blotted out the sky and the stars, they turned their eyes to the Resistance. In this, too, they have been always together, each of them committed to the Resistance’s dream of freedom. Paige knew that if this attack failed, that dream would die. The First Order would take the Fleet. They would take Rose.

_ No.  _

The First Order took their sky. They took their world. They took their parents. But they would  _ not  _ take Rose. Not while Paige still breathed.

Her eyes flew open and she kicked the ladder again, pouring into the motion every ounce of strength and determination and desperation she had in her. The impact reverberated through the ship and miraculously, unbelievably, the detonator fell. 

But, no, it was too wide, she’d never make it from here. Summoning the last of her strength, she flipped over and shot out her hand to snatch it from the air. As her fingers closed around the detonator, she pressed the button. Finally triggered, the bombs released in a cascade of motion above and around her. _ Mission accomplished. _

Paige tried to move, but found her body would not obey. It was too much. The detonator slipped from her limp hand. 

_ I did it, Rose. All I ever wanted was to protect you, and I did it. I wish I could do more. I love you, Rosey _ .

Her fingertips groped for the edges of her pendant. It felt like a lifeline, it felt like home. She closed her eyes. 

Then the fire took her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts! See you tomorrow!


	11. Days 11+12: Force Skype Session 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 11 and 12 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt are: “I told you so" (Day 11) and "watch me" (Day 12)
> 
> I had a bad day and had to take a break. Hopefully I'm through it now. The tone here is a little silly again and this is very much a factor of me trying to get something down so I can keep up with this challenge. 
> 
> In my head, Rey and Ben talked a lot over Force Skype (or are we saying Force Zoom now?) during the year between TLJ and TROS. Here's a bit of headcanon for what that first actual conversation might have been like. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags** It's reylo again. Apologies if that's not your thing.

Rey was having a perfectly ordinary morning, helping Finn prepare for the next Resistance strategy meeting. He was anxious, she could tell. So was she, for that matter, but she was trying not to show it, for Finn's sake. This was the first plan that the two of them had come up with all on their own. They had been at it all night and most of the day, going over every facet and planning for every eventuality. If it worked, it would mean a real blow against the stormtrooper training facilities, something she knew was near to her friend's heart. 

So it was, in other words, the absolute worst time for the sound to dim and Kylo Ren to appear beside her. She successfully ignored him for weeks, pretending he wasn't there anytime he appeared. The first time it happened, she had set rules for herself: don't talk to him, don't look at him. At first it had just been because she had been angry, but now...well, she reasoned that if they didn't talk and didn't look at each other, he couldn't hurt her again. Eventually, he always disappeared -- in varying states of temper. This would have to be the same. She stared steadfastly at her work, pointedly not acknowledging him. 

As was typical, he wasted no time in deploying his opening gambit.

"You can't just keep ignoring me.” 

"Watch me," she muttered reflexively. 

She expected him to sigh or complain or maybe even rage at her, but instead, he perked up. "That at least proves you can hear me."

Just then, Rey's tired brain caught up with her mouth. She had just broken her first rule. She swore loudly. Started by the sudden outburst, Finn raised an eyebrow at her across the table. She smiled as though nothing had happened, and he shrugged and went back to his work. 

"Seeing you, hearing you, it doesn't change anything," she said under her breath. 

"You have nothing to say to me?"

"I have _plenty_ to say to you."

"Then say it. Go on.” He leaned down so so their heads were level. “Tell me why you left me behind. Or, if you hate me so much, tell me why you didn't kill me when you had the chance."

"Weakness." It was the first thing that came to her head. That’s what it was, wasn’t it? If she was stronger, better, she’d have been able to resist. 

She could have sworn he almost laughed. "That's my line," he said.

She shook her head, putting her stylus down. She'd go back to being silent, that would show him. 

"Or maybe you don't know why any more than I do."

Rey didn't respond. She loudly shuffled the maps in front of her and hazarded a glance over at Finn. To Rey’s horror, she found him squinting at the air beside her, where Kylo Ren stood, as though struggling to make something out. 

As though he could sense Finn’s attention, Kylo said. "Are your new friends getting suspicious? You have told them about...this?"

"My new friends trust me --” 

“You haven’t told them.” Kylo said it with a sort of awe and hope that confused her enough to break her second rule. Rey looked up into his face, finding his eyes. This was a mistake. She found she couldn’t look away. He was studying her cautiously and she could feel the emotions roiling around him of him. He wore shame and anger like a cloak, as usual, but shooting through it was a thin cord of that hope, bright as starlight in her mind’s eye. 

Suddenly, Finn cleared his throat and Rey’s attention snapped back to her surroundings. 

Finn was looking at her with concern again. "You okay, Rey? Only, you've been talking to yourself? And that’s weird, even for you"

Her cheeks colored as she avoided looking over at Ben -- _Kylo Ren_ , she corrected herself. His name was Kylo Ren. "I have not been talking to myself. I can see why it would look like that, but it’s...it's…”

“Tell them it’s part of your Jedi training,” Kylo offered. She was annoyed but grateful at the suggestion. 

“...a part of my Jedi training." She paired this invention with a bright, almost manic smile, and all of the conviction she could muster. Finn continued to frown at her. 

“That sounds --”

She was saved by the sudden appearance of Poe, Rose, and Ransolm Casterfo at the head of a group of resistance leaders. They entered the room in a buzz of noise and conversation. Moving a little more slowly than the rest, General Organa stood in the doorway. Poe doubled back to help her to her seat. 

"Told you so," Kylo said softly. Then he was gone and Rey was again alone in a room of Resistance fighters. Rey shook her head to clear it, then was immediately swept up in conversation with the person seated next to her, who had a question for her. 

What Rey didn’t notice was that right as the bond had cut, Leia’s gaze had flicked over to her as though she sensed the echo. Without moving her head, Leia stared at the spot where Kylo had been, then at Rey, whose face was still flushed. Leia let out a little, “hmmm,” as though filing something away for later study. Then she turned to the group and cleared her throat, signaling for the meeting to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts and they are so helpful in keeping me motivated. With luck I'll see you tomorrow!


	12. Days 14-15: Rose and Rey Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Days 14 and 15: Rey seeks help from Rose in safeguarding Ben while she's away. (or, I wanted an excuse for Rose to punch Ben in the face).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 14 and 15 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompts are: #14 “you better leave now” and #15 “not interested, thank you” 
> 
> I want to take a second once again to thank you for your comments and kudos. I'm a small writer, and I just started writing again during quarantine. I have never had a fic break 100 kudos before. From a certain point of view, that is not a lot. But for me, the idea that 100 strangers on the internet read at least one of the stories in this little collection and enjoyed them enough to leave a kudos...that means so, so much to me. It's overwhelming. 
> 
> I fell a little behind, so I'm combining prompts again. I'm also breaking my own rules today, as this is a direct follow-up to Day 8's story -- so another post-TROS fix-it. This is a oneshot nominally from Rose's POV as Rey explains what happened between her and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo when she brought him back to life, but I'm tagging it as reylo anyway just to help you curate your experience. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags** Reylo, Rose and Rey are best friends.

"No. No way. I am _not_ gonna be a place for you to stash Kylo Ren! Not interested, thank you!"

“Roooose!” 

Rey followed Rose down the hallway against the flow of traffic, dodging other workers and staff. The sun had just risen and everyone was hurrying to their morning assignments. Several people in the crowd perked up and swiveled their heads at the name Kylo Ren. They stared in open fascination at the Jedi and their Chief Engineer.

Rose glared testily at the rubberneckers. “Haven’t you got somewhere to be?” 

Grabbing Rose by the wrist, Rey pulled them into a side corridor. 

"Rose, I told you, he's changed. He’s not _Kylo Ren_ anymore. Now he’s just Ben." 

Rose watched her friend pacing the corridor with pity in her eyes. “I told you yesterday: I want to believe you. But --”

“How is this different from when we brought those ex-Imperials into the Resistance back on Ryloth.” Rey had started pacing back and forth along the width of the corridor, a mess of frenetic motion. 

“You mean that time a shooting war almost broke out in the hanger?” 

“ _Almost_ broke out, okay. But then Poe gave a speech about unity and forgiveness and atoning for the past by making better choices for the future, and everyone fell together, all forgiveness. But when I ask…” she rounded on Rose, eyes overbright. "When I ask for something similar for Ben, you don't believe me, Poe won't stop shouting, and Finn..."

Rey sat down heavily on a crate. Rose could tell that she was trying to calm herself, to force herself to stillness. Rose could also see that it wasn't working. 

"It's not that I don't believe you," Rose said bracingly. "If you thought that you were just going to bring him in and then everything would be okay..." she let out a sigh and dropped down next to Rey on the crate. She scooped up Rey's hands into her own, patting them gently. "It's not that simple. I don't think you understand how difficult this is for people. How difficult it is for me. You see Ben Solo, okay. But we see Kylo Ren, the man responsible for so much suffering."

"I've seen his soul and he's good, I know it,” Rey protested. “And now, after what I -- well, of the two of us, he's the cleaner, now.”

Rose’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? _Rey_. Look at me. You’ve never done anything like him.”

“He died to save me, Rose. He gave me his life. We were finally together and everything felt right. And then the bubble popped. To lose that oneness, to feel him falling out of my arms as he faded away-- he gave me his life," she repeated. "I should have been grateful just for that. But when he was gone, it was like a part of me died again, too. I had to bring him back, it didn’t matter what it took. I still had all the power of all the Jedi, fading, but there. There were...sacrifices. You can’t just create life. I had to make choices. But it was worth it, I _told myself_ it was worth it. I thought that bringing him back was the hardest part. I thought that was the worst it could ever be. I got through it, and I thought, _now we can live_. This isn’t the way it was supposed to be," she paused, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "You know Finn won’t even talk to me.”

“He still won’t budge, huh?” 

Rey shook her head. “No. That’s why I have to go on this mission today. Finn will be there, and we’ll have to talk. I can make this right, he just has to understand that I...” she trailed off.

“-- that you love Ben Solo,” Rose finished for her, eyes wide, the pieces falling into place. Rey looked into Rose’s face and then, finally, nodded. Rose let out a long, long breath. She couldn’t comprehend what her friend had gone through, the powers of a Jedi were beyond her. But Rey had risked everything to save what she loved. That, Rose could understand. 

“Okay, he can join my crew while you’re gone -- _but_ he’ll work directly with me. I don’t want him in with the rest of my crew, not yet. If anyone asks, I’ll...I’ll say he’s the General’s long lost son Ben.”

“Which is who he is anyway,” Rey said excitedly, throwing her arms around Rose, who hugged her back. “That’s exactly who he is. Thank you, Rose. _Thank you._ ”

\---

Half an hour later there was a slight knock at the door. Rose looked up to see Rey and Kylo Ren -- _Ben_ standing in the doorway of her workshop. Rey looked hopeful, he looked neutral. Rose wondered, not for the last time, if she was making a mistake in letting him work here. Finn would certainly think so. But she'd come too far now. 

Rey was saying something, but Rose wasn't listening. Before this went any further, there was one thing she had to do first. She put her tools down neatly on a nearby towel on the bench in front of her. She stood up and strode over to Ben, face set. She took a deep breath and smiled up at him. 

Then she punched him square in the jaw. 

The surprise of the blow sent his head backward, but he stayed firmly rooted to the spot. Rose studied his face. She could see a flash of surprise and then rage pass over his features. But then he glanced sideways at Rey and the fire was quenched. He rubbed the spot she had hit; an angry red mark was blooming on his face. 

“I suppose I deserved that,” he said quietly. 

“Hmm.” Rose shook out her hand and nodded. "You know anything about fixing hyperdrives?" 

Ben smiled, shrugged. "I grew up on the _Millennium Falcon._ "

"And anyone who can keep that boat going is always welcome on my team. But you take orders from me, understood?"

"Understood," he said. 

His earnestness surprised Rose. She had expected...she didn't know what she had expected. "Okay, come over here and make yourself useful. Rey, you better leave now before I change my mind."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts and they are so helpful in keeping me motivated. With luck I'll see you tomorrow!
> 
> References:  
> [ Resistance Reborn ](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Resistance_Reborn) the TROS tie in novel that had nothing to do with the TROS we got does, in fact, feature a scene where Poe gives a speech about forgiveness and redemption when some ex-Imperials join the Resistance. I wonder what that was originally supposed to set-up...


	13. Day 13: Catch up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 13: Rose and Finn catch up post-Crait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 13 the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: #13 “I missed this" -- ironically, I missed this prompt as I took a mental health break on October 13th. So now I am doubling back to pick up Day 13 on Day 16. It's an imperfect world. 
> 
> I swore today wouldn't be reylo and I have delivered. I tend to lean towards Stormpilot/FinnPoe, but something about this prompt made me want to do some light, somewhat unrequited Stormflower/FinnRose. Unlike yesterday, this one-shot is unconnected to any others in this collection. The one head-canon I have here is that in the early post-TLJ days, when there were like 12 people in the whole Resistance, there was some kind of duty roster to cover tasks like cooking and laundry.
> 
>  **Warnings/Tags** Stormflower/FinnRose

Rose had worked through lunch. Again. And then worked through dinner on top of it. She was exhausted and needed her bunk, but her stomach growled. She’d never fall asleep unless she ate something, and short of raiding one of her bunkmates’ stash, she'd be going to bed hungry. 

Like most of the Resistance’s makeshift base, the canteen was a series of tents set up against a small transport. Miraculously, there was still a light on in part of the tent. 

Standing at a countertop island in the middle of the tent was Finn. The very last person she wanted to see when she was tired and gross from a long day's work. He was working at a cutting board, a pile of vegetables on his right, and a bowl of neatly diced ones on his left. 

Rose was just about to let the tent flap fall again and scurry away when he looked up, he looked up, squinting over at her. 

“Hey, that you, Rose?” 

Rose froze. Busted. Face suddenly flushed, she took a step into the tent. 

“Yep! It’s me! I mean, obviously, it’s me, I’m standing right in front of you," oh goodness, she was babbling, she needed to rein this in. "What are you doing here?”

He gestured down at the cutting board and pile of vegetables beside him. “Duty rotation. I drew the short straw and ended up in the kitchen this week.”

“At,” she consulted her watch, “11 pm?”

Finn shrugged. “I got distracted earlier, so I got asked to help prep for tomorrow. What about you? What are you doing here so late?”

“Oh! I missed lunch and dinner. Just a lot of work. I was hoping to scavenge some food, but if it’s too late --”

“No, there’s probably something around here, hold on --”

He turned to start opening refrigerators and cabinets, trying to scrounge for her. She settled down at a seat across the long island from him, watching him. 

Though their time together had been short, it had been intense. They had schemed together, escaped the First Order together. She had saved his life, then...nothing. When she’d finally woken up, he’d been away with Poe. She wouldn’t admit even to herself that she waited for him, expecting some kind of message...but all during her recovery, whenever someone walked by she’d look up, hoping it was him. 

He produced a sandwich of unknown origin out of a fridge and placed it in on the island between them like a peace offering. She looked up at him and smiled as cheerfully as she could muster. She watched as he returned to cutting up the mound of produce in front of them. There had been so many things she’d wanted to say to him over the past month. But now she found she couldn’t find the words. Instead, she picked up the sandwich and started eating. 

“What have you been doing lately?” she managed after a few bites.

“When I’m not cutting up vegetables? I dunno,” he was slicing methodically, the knife sinking into the cutting board with dull thuds. “Been spending a lot of time with Poe.”

“And Rey?”

The knife paused. “Rey, she...she’s got her own stuff going on. I don’t understand a lot of it. Comes from being a Jedi, you know how it is. She's doing really important work for the Resistance, though, of course.” He said it over-confidently, and Rose wondered who he was trying to convince. He resumed chopping and continued: “Rey was my first friend outside the First Order, you know?”

“I wouldn't let Poe hear you say that.”

“I met Poe first, but he...Poe was a dream. My ticket out, then he was gone. I thought he was dead, remember? But me and Rey had each others' backs for longer. When I woke up after Starkiller I was so focused on making sure that Rey was safe. You know that better than anyone.” She nodded, remembering how he’d been willing to desert the entire Resistance rather than risk Rey returning to a doomed fleet. “The whole time on Canto Bight, all of that pushing was to make sure she had somewhere safe to come back to. And now that we’re all together again…” he abruptly stopped cutting and put down the knife. “Sometimes it feels like everyone around here is so driven and they’re all fighting to get something back, reclaim it from the First Order. But me? I’m fighting because that’s the only thing I know how to do. And lately, it hasn't been fighting." He stared down gloomily at the task in front of him. "Following orders, that’s all a stormtrooper is good for.”

Rose shook her head. “Finn, that’s not true at all. You’re not a stormtrooper.”

“I know that. But it’s what I was raised to be, it was all my training.”

“You can be more. I know it."

Rose wanted to reach out and squeeze his arm reassuringly, to try to transfer some of the confidence she felt for him. But after Crait, after all this time, to be talking like this again was such a gift. She didn’t want to break the spell by overreaching. So she settled for looking into his face, trying to transfer everything she couldn’t express by touch into her gaze. Now that you’re out, now that Rey is safe, what do  _ you  _ want to do?”

"Well...I've thought about it a lot, but haven't told anyone. I want to find the stormtrooper training camps. When I was little, they took me to this place. They conditioned us, raised us to fight, to work for them. I never questioned it until that night on Jakku, when Kylo Ren made us torch that village. And once I did start questioning it, it was like something unlocked in my brain.” he was talking more animatedly now, his eyes lighting up. “And I just thought, maybe there are others who would do the same? I know not every stormtrooper is good, but I want to give them back the choice."

“That's such a good idea!”

“You really think so?” Finn asked, incredulous. Then he brightened, a touch of his usual swagger coming back. “Yeah, I guess it’s not bad, right?”

“Yes! It would solve our problem of numbers for one thing!”

“But there could be some double agents mixed in --”

“ -- But if we vet everyone who comes in, keep their units siloed off we could help mitigate that.”

“So all we have to do is find them..." Finn deflated, shook his head. "And there's the dead-end.”

“You don’t remember where they took you?”

“It was all secret. And it was so long ago."

“Finn, the Resistance has the best spy network in the galaxy, how else do you think we’ve survived this long??”

“So if we get General Leia to let us leverage that network --”

“--then we can liberate these stormtrooper camps!”

“It’s not much --”

“But it’s the start of a plan and you know it.”

“It is.” Finn grinned. “I feel...better. Thanks, Rose. 

“What can I say, we make a good team,” Rose said, grinning back. He laughed and she felt suddenly bold. This time she did reach out across the island and gripped his hand. He looked down at her hand, brow furrowed and she pulled away again. 

“Oh, I didn't mean --!” She’d stepped in it now. She grimaced, trying to think of how to explain this without sounding like an idiot. He was still staring at her, perplexed, but not unkindly. “I didn't mean anything by it. Look, what happened on Crait, that was an impulse. And if you're not...then I’m not -- what I'm trying to say is, it's okay! That I'm not expecting anything. If you want, you don't have to talk to me anymore. But I hope that you do because...I missed this." Rose said, gesturing around, including herself and Finn and their surroundings. "I missed this so much."

“You missed...watching me chop vegetables in a cooking tent?” Finn deadpanned. Rose glared at him, then shook her head. So much for a serious conversation. She picked up what was left of her sandwich and hopped up, headed for the tent's entrance. Finn put out a hand to stop her. 

"Hey -- it’s okay. Look, Rose, there’s still a lot I’m trying to figure out. But, just so you know…” he looked over at her with such sincerity and openness that it made her heart skip, “I missed this, too." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts. Are you a Team FinnRose or Team FinnPoe? After writing this, I think I might be a little of both. 
> 
> With luck, I'll see you tomorrow!
> 
> I've broken a lot of my own rules lately, but I am sticking with writing each one-shot in just a few hours. Here are some references/inspirations that helped me get here today:  
> -[ This scene ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ZRxghpp4I) in Battlestar Galactica, round abouve 2:30  
> - This scene  from Farscape, 2:18


	14. Day 16: Macaronage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 16: Poe Dameron gets captured by the absolute worst bounty hunter and talks his way out of a hostage situation with his hands tied behind his back. (Or, how the Resistance gained a pastry chef)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 16 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “I never wanted anything else"
> 
> I kept seeing all of these really heartfelt takes on this prompt and...well, after all the angst of the past few chapters, I wanted to write something silly and cracky. So here it is. Poe using that Dameron charm to get himself out of a hostage situation with the world's worst bounty hunter. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags:** Poe is sort of tied up, excessive silliness. See end note for inspirations/references.

For neither the first, nor the last time in his Resistance career, Poe Dameron found himself tied to a chair in a darkened room. On this occasion, he was nursing a headache and being held at gunpoint by a particularly scruffy looking bounty hunter. Well, he _said_ he was a bounty hunter, but he looked just like some kid. He was maybe 18, face pockmarked by acne and the small, sad wisps of a beard clinging to his upper lip. 

“Do you want to know what I’ll do with the reward money I get from the First Order for turning you in?” 

Poe smiled brightly at his captor. “I never wanted anything else.” _Come on Snap, where the hell are you?_ His friend and squadmate couldn't have been more than fifteen feet away in the crowd when this kid had jumped him out of nowhere and dragged him off. Plus the kid had neglected to remove any of Poe's communications equipment, so his commlink with its tracker was still pinned to his jacket. 

“You won’t be so chipper when General Hux gets his hands on you.”

“Oh, old Hugs and I go way back.” Poe glanced around the room, what he could see of it, playing for time. If he could just keep this guy talking long enough for his team to find him, they could still salvage this mission. “And you can stop pointing that gun at me, I know they want me alive.”

“They didn’t say anything about un-injured. I could...uh, break your kneecaps. Yeah! I could do that.”

Poe tutted and shook his head. “Kneecaps? Really. That’s so overdone. Are you new at this? Because it feels like you’re new at this.” The bounty hunter glared and Poe knew he’d struck a nerve. He decided to gamble and push further anyway. “Why _are_ you doing this, anyway?”

“Doing...this?” The kid tilted his head at Poe in confusion.

“Being a bounty hunter.” 

“Well, it’s like the saying goes, 'the hours are good,'” the kid recited. Then he considered a moment and added, “But if I’m honest --”

“Honesty’s the best policy, I always say,” interjected Poe.

“-- honestly, most of the actual minutes are bad.”

“So then why do it?”

“Well...I want to get off this planet?”

“Sure, of course, it’s a shithole. Totally understand. What else?”

“Ummm, well, you know...”

“I really don’t,” Poe replied. He had just about worked his left hand free. This guy really wasn’t any good at knots. 

Meanwhile, the would-be bounty hunter had put down the gun and was running a hand nervously through his already messy hair. It was standing all on end, giving him the impression of having been struck by lightning. “My aunt always said that being a bounty hunter was a good career for a young guy. And there’s not a lot else to do around here for cash...”

“It's a great entry-level thing, sure,” said Poe, continuing to work the knots, ”but if you could be doing anything right now, what would it be?”

“Turning you in and collecting the bounty," he replied, automatically. He picked up his blater again and jabbed it at Poe for emphasis.

Poe nodded, conceding the point. “Sure, of course, but taking the whole bounty thing out of the question, what if I told you that I could get you off this planet?”

The bounty hunter regarded him skeptically. “What do you mean?”

“You untie me, let me go, and I can get you off this planet. I’ve already got bribes in place to get through the blockade, what’s one more person? You’d be ready to start a new life. So what would you do with it? And don’t say be a bounty hunter because -- and don’t take this the wrong way -- I’ve known a lot of bounty hunters and you’re just not cut out for the life, kid.”

“Well, my aunt says --” 

“Never mind your aunt. She’s staying behind, remember? If I get you out of here, what are you going to do?”

“Well...I have been working really hard on my macaron technique. I’ve tested out some new flavor combinations, too. If I could perfect them...maybe sell them...”

“Set up your own shop?”

The kid looked at Poe with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and hope. “You’d really do that? My own shop?”

“I’m assuming you got some kind of dossier with that bounty, you know who I’m with?”

“The…” he lowered his voice to a whisper, even though they were alone in the room, “The Resistance. I’ve heard about you.”

“Great, then you’ve heard that we’re in the business of helping people.”

“I heard you’re in the business of blowing up First Order targets.”

“Well, that too, but in between all that, we help people. So I get you off of this planet, drop you off somewhere ready to start a new life wherever you want. We’re already bribed our way off of the planet. What do you say?”

There was a long, protracted silence. Poe wondered if he’d overstepped. He had his left hand free and was working on the right, so it wouldn’t matter one way or the other in about 3 minutes. He’d be able to overpower his captor and get back on track. But, and he hated to admit it, he kinda felt bad for this kid. And it might be cleaner if he did this without leaving behind a body. 

Poe was pulled from his thoughts as the kid said, tentatively: “Do...do you want to try some of my macarons?” 

“I never wanted anything else,” said Poe solemnly. 

Half an hour later, Snap Wexley came bursting into the room to find his squadron leader not tied up and close to death as he’d feared...but sitting on a countertop with a plate full of colorful sandwich cookies.

“Snap! Oh hey, you can put the gun down. This is our new friend Felix, formerly the bounty hunter known as Urdnot. You have _got_ to try some of his macaroons.”

“Maca _rons,_ ” the former bounty hunter corrected cheerfully, grabbing the plate and approaching Snap. “I’ve got a rose one just over here, I'd love to get your opinion...”

Nonplussed, Snap looked to Poe for direction. Poe nodded pointedly, so he reached out to select one of the proffered macarons. 

“This is a damn good cookie,” said Snap, around a mouthful of crumbs. 

Poe nodded in agreement. “Aren’t they? You know, Felix, forget dropping you off on a new planet, we could use someone like you in the Resistance…”

\---

“Poe.” 

“General Organa, ma'am.”

“I just got the report from Black Squadron’s last mission. Everything was in order, you completed the task and extracted the target. All in all, well done.”

“Thank you. I’ll pass that on to the team.”

“Except…” she held tapped a readout in front of her. “These expenses...30 pounds of almond flour? Do you have any idea how much it costs to -- “

Poe slid a small box across the console. She raised an eyebrow but pulled it towards her. Inside was an assortment of macarons. 

"If I might make a recommendation, -- Black Squadron is unanimous on preferring the salted caramel ones. They're the light brown ones."

Still incredulous, Leia bit into a cookie. As she chewed, her eyes lit up. Poe nodded sagely. 

"Well done, Captain Dameron," she said. "Please tell our new recruit, from me -- Welcome to the Resistance."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos, I love to hear your thoughts on this or any of the one-shots in this collection.
> 
> With luck, I'll see you tomorrow!
> 
> Here are some references/inspirations that helped me get here today:  
> -That scene in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where Ford is trying to get the Vogon Captain to rethink his life choices. (Only Poe succeeds!)  
> -Several glasses of cheap wine.


	15. Day 17: A view from the gallery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 17: A view from the gallery of the mental state of one Supreme Leader Kylo Ren during the time in which a certain scavenger isn’t returning his Force Skype calls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 17 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “Give me a minute or an hour" 
> 
> I had to take over a week off to help with my cousin's wedding. Now that's done, I'm back to writing every day and committed to finishing fictober (even if it turns into ficvember). 
> 
> Warnings/Tags: Dopheld Mitaka has had a bad day

“Oh, Dolph...you look _awful._ ”

Dolpheld Mitaka looked up through bleary, bloodshot eyes and blinked himself. He felt around for his sidearm, ready in his half-awake haze to straight-up murder whoever had disturbed him. It had taken him months to find a disused room, it was _his_ designated breakdown room and he refused to share...! -- But then his eyes focused on who was in front of him and he relaxed instantly and put his head back down on the side-table. 

“I’m fine, just...give me a minute...or an hour." Groaning, picked his head off the table again and rubbed his forehead wearily. "You have _no idea_ what it’s like to work for Kylo Ren.”

The newcomer laughed. She was a tall woman whose round face seemed at odds with the crisp lines of her First Order uniform. “I work for Armitage Hux, that’s hardly a pleasure cruise,” she said. Then she dropped down next to him on the floor and handed him a bottle. It was half full of a neon blue liquid. He took it gratefully and downed a mouthful, wincing a little at the bitter taste. 

“At least your commanding officer knows your name,” she continued, taking off her uniform cap and tossing it on a nearby chair. “I am convinced that General Hux doesn’t know mine. I’m just ‘Unidentified Female First Order Officer #7’ to him.”

“Better to stay under the radar, the way things are going. Too many Resistance victories lately. Central command is dropping like flies and taking their staffs down with them. Speaking of, they still don’t _know,_ right?”

“Know what? That I’m your cousin?”

Mitaka jumped so hard at her words that he nearly dropped the bottle. 

“Shh! Don’t!” He lowered his voice to whisper: “Don’t say it out loud. Don’t even _think_ it around the Supreme Leader. You know better.”

“You’re the one who asked!” 

Mitaka shook his head. “Only because I wanted to make sure we were both still safe. We can’t have any attachments here. If they knew, then they’d use you to get to me if something went wrong. The Supreme Leader is...well, mercurial is putting it lightly. He’s charged _me_ with finding this scavenger girl. And the little witch is clever. Every time we think we’ve found her, she illudes us. The more we tighten our grip, the more readily she slips away.” He took another long sip from the bottle. The buzz from the stimulant laced alcohol was coursing through his veins now. It relaxed away some of his despondency, but also sharpened the focus on the impossible task he’d been set -- and on the unfortunate news he still had to convey regarding the girl's most recent escape.

It should have been easy. They knew that the Resistance would be on Bracca, scavenging at the shipyards like the rats they were. They knew the exact location of a supply dropoff and Mitaka had deployed several units of stormtroopers. And yet, with their prey in their very sights... _something_ had happened to foil the plan. The trooper commander hadn't been clear on what. It didn't make sense. Even under torture, the man hadn't been able to give a satisfactory answer. Mitaka almost felt bad for the man as he'd watched the interrogation. But such was the price of failure in the First Order. And now it fell to him to communicate that failure to the Supreme Leader. 

He cleared his throat. “If _I_ fail, there’s no telling what he’ll do to me or anyone connected to me. You heard about what happened to Captain Darien’s little brother when he let the Resistance trash that stormtrooper training site? We’re just lucky we look almost nothing alike.”

“Aww, Do-do, it almost sounds like you care.”

He handed her back the bottle. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

They fell into silence. The failed mission whirred around his head again. The Supreme Leader had been distracted lately, but that only made him more dangerous. 

He looked over at his cousin and noticed that she was watching him. Her bright, intelligent eyes were trained on his face, a slight frown creasing her brow. 

“Why does he want her captured so bad?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You never asked?”

“Oh, of course, I walked right up to him and said, ‘Hey boss whyever are we chasing this worthless girl around the galaxy’? Because, you know, _that_ would have ended with anything other than me being throttled to death. You remember what happened the first time I ever told him about her: he dragged me across the room _with his mind._ ” His hand went involuntarily to his throat, and the marks still there. Scars from the pull of that invisible Force. "She's all he talks about, though. To be honest, he’s rather neglected his other duties.”

“Yes, Hux has picked up on that. We’ve been saying all week that he’s planning to make a move.”

“ _Ter_ rific," Mitaka said miserably. "Hux plans a coup while the Supreme Leader mopes around neglecting his personal hygiene. He's even grown a scruffy little beard.”

“You’ve seen under the mask??”

“Once or twice --”

“No way! What does he look like?? I’ve heard his face is deformed from being dipped in acid as part of some weird Knights of Ren ritual!”

“I hate to disappoint, but under the mask, he looks perfectly normal.”

“Perfectly normal? Oh that's no fun.” She sounded deflated. 

“But whereas he used to be the picture of sharp dress, with that ridiculous cape, now he’s...disheveled. His food trays come away untouched. And considering the messages he sends me at all hours, he’s not sleeping either.”

She stared thoughtfully down at her shoes, chewing her lip. “You don’t think...no. Certainly not”

“What is it?” 

“Well...you don’t think he _likes_ her?”

“Likes her?” he asked, genuinely nonplussed.

“ _Likes-her_ likes-her.” She accompanied this with a suggestive eyebrow waggle that made Mitaka roll his eyes. 

“What are you, twelve?” he asked, exasperated. 

“No, listen. He’s obsessed with her, you said so yourself. And he’s not eating and he’s not sleeping. It sounds to me like the Supreme Leader’s got it bad for this scavenger girl.”

He arched an eyebrow at her, not bothering to hide his incredulity. “The Jedi Killer in love with the Last Jedi?” 

“Sounds a bit romantic, doesn’t it?”

“Sounds a bit ridiculous. I know for a fact that --” just then his communicator buzzed. Another message from the man himself, no doubt. He closed his eyes, emotionally preparing himself to go back to work. To try to spin another failure. He forced himself to his feet. “I have to go, but stay here a little while longer. Be safe, okay?” 

“I’ll do my best. Same time next week?”

“If we’re both still alive then, yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or Kudos, as they are the breath of life I swear! And definitely check out the previous one-shots and let me know what you think. 
> 
> I would say that this one-shot fits into the same new headcanon that I've been building in Day 11's entry. I wanted to do a view from the gallery where tertiary characters comment on the main plot because I think they're fun. I picked Mitaka as the vehicle because he was a named character. I researched him, but found very little. So I improvised. Please let me know if he's your favorite character and I completely butchered him, as I am getting a strong feeling that I'm going to combine a few of these one-shots into a larger fic and I'd like to do right by old Dopheld if I can. 
> 
> See you tomorrow!
> 
> References/Inspirations:  
> -[Unnamed Female First Order Officer is a real character with a Wookiepedia entry. ](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Unidentified_female_First_Order_officer) I made her Mitaka's cousin to give him an excuse to speak frankly.  
> -The title [ "A View from the Gallery" ](http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/092.html)is a bablyon 5 reference


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 18: Han and Luke get stuck being interviewed by an over-eager historian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 18 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “You don't see it?"
> 
> Today's oneshot is definitely not based on the fact that I couldn't get the characters to cooperate and answer my questions so I could write a better story about them today. Nope. Not at all. Situation normal. Everything's perfectly alright. We're all fine here...now. How are you? 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags** No warnings, unless you don't like historians?

The historian was a plump dark-haired woman with wide blue eyes and a propensity for chatter. Despite that, she was known for putting her subjects at ease and teasing out those extra details that elevated a book from boring history book to readable epic. She knew there were many on Hosnian Prime who would kill to be sitting in her chair -- taking notes and talking freely with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, two of the Galaxy’s most notable heroes. None of her initial excitement or preliminary preparation had prepared her for the reality: two men sitting awkwardly on the plush couch opposite her, looking for all the galaxy as though they’d rather be anywhere else. She had tried every trick in her toolbox, but her subjects gave her nothing. Yet the historian pressed on, ready to try again. She double-checked her recording droid to make sure it was still running, pulled on her brightest smile, and faced her subjects. 

“My next question is for you, Master Skywalker -- you took part in the battle of Hoth, is that correct? You were part of the squadron who took down Imperial Walkers?” 

“Yes I did it, what about it?”

“What about it? What about it?” The historian shook her head incredulously. It had been a grueling interview for all parties and her normal poise slipping. “All about it! You figured out, in the heat of battle, how to disable a craft that was at least ten times the size of your ship! With something as simple as tying its legs together! Then in the heat of battle and after crashing you managed to take out a walker single-handedly. What made you think to do that?”

“It just seemed obvious,” Luke said, running a self-deprecating hand through his hair. He looked over to Han for help, but his friend just shrugged back.

“You don’t see it? You really don’t see it. Hmm.” The historian tapped her stylus against her cheek thoughtfully. She began again, slowly: “Your time on Hoth the middle part of your journey, when all seemed lost…these are fascinating details for history, for posterity. And make no mistake, what you and your friends accomplished was history. It deserves to be remembered, and in living color. It's very compelling. Everyone's heard the rumors: Snow monsters and Force ghosts, living asteroids and lightsaber duels, cloud cities and carbonite -- but I’m interested in the human story. It was you and your friends against the galaxy, nothing but your wits and the clothes on your back.” She paused, training her impossibly blue eyes on each man in turn. “How did you do it?"

“Technically, we could have had more clothes," Luke offered, "but Threepio thought it was too cold for humans. Artoo overclocked the heater in Leia’s quarters and started melting the entire living section. Everything was soaked, then the Empire attacked and we couldn't dry them out in time.”

"That's...not quite the kind of detail I was looking for, but still fascinating," the historian said, scribbling down a note. 

“Look, you wanna know how it really was out there?” Han asked. "What it was really like to be part of the Rebel Alliance on Hoth?"

“Yes!” the historian said, eyes shining.

“Okay. I’ll tell you: It was cold as hell, we froze our asses off, then we got shot at by the Empire and barely made it out alive. Happy? Oh, and I think someone lost a finger to frostbite.”

Luke snorted out a laugh. “You’re thinking of Wedge, and it was a toe.”

Han jabbed a thumb over at Luke, “There we go, we froze out asses off and somebody lost a toe. That enough color for you?”

The interview held up a placating hand. “Please...I didn’t mean to offend. Recall, Senator Organa graciously granted my request for an interview --"

“Where is she, anyway?” Han asked, turning to Luke. 

“Senate?” replied Luke, shrugging.

“Convenient,” Han said with a sardonic smile and a sideways glance at Luke.

The historian had opened her mouth for her next question when suddenly, an explosion rocked the small room. The impact wasn't immediately in their area, but it was enough to cause a few chotskies arranged on shelves crashed to the ground, the water jug on the small coffee table to spill onto the rug, and the historian herself to be thrown sideways out of her chair. 

“Finally – I mean, what’s going on?” Han said, springing to his feet. 

Meanwhile, Luke punched his commlink. “This is Luke Skywalker, anyone there?” There was a buzz of static. “Han?”

“Two steps ahead of you, kid, let's go,” replied Han, already at the door.

Luke jumped up to follow him. Then, as an afterthought, he turned and offered the historian a hand up. Pulling her to her feet, he said: “You’ll have to excuse us.”

“But the interview!” She said, not realizing how ridiculous it sounded until the words were already out of her mouth. 

“We’ll have to finish later,” Luke said not unkindly. Then added with a more commanding edge: “You will stay here and lock the door until it’s safe.”

The historian felt herself nodding. “I’ll stay here and lock that door until it’s safe,” she said, moving forward to do so as the two men sprinted away down the hall. She felt a little silly, standing behind the locked door. She sighed and began skimming through the notes on her tablet. She had barely made it halfway through her questions and she had a deadline, but maybe there was something useful in all this she could use. And Luke Skywalker had said they could finish later, so it might not be a total loss. Yes, that was the spirit. They’d reschedule and maybe then she could even interview Senator Organa! The true story of the Rebel Alliance trio at last. Hmmm, Alliance Trio: The True Story of the Rebel Alliance...that sounded like a good start for a title...

And so the historian settled back into her chair, deep in her notes, oblivious to the other small explosions that continued to go off further and further away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a comment or Kudos, as they mean so much to me. And definitely check out the previous one-shots if you haven't already and let me know what you think. I have absolutely loved reading peoples' takes and reactions on what I've written, it's really a dream. 
> 
> See you tomorrow!
> 
>  **References/Inspirations:**  
>  -That scene on Hoth where C-3PO is freaking out about having accidentally melted Leia's quarters. It's blink and you'll miss it, but it makes me laugh every time.   
> -My own writer's block


	17. Rain and Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A missing TLJ scene -- Chewie helps Rey get prepare for her meeting with Kylo Ren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 19 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “I can't keep doing this"
> 
> I am writing and posting this from the passenger seat on a car journey, so I apologize for any weird formatting. 
> 
> Warnings/Tags: TLJ missing scene, Chewie and Rey are friends, slight reylo reference (but exactly as portrayed in the movie)

Chewie was shooing away some of the porgs who had come in out of the rain when the girl, Rey, appeared like a specter out of the wet and fog. She stood in the doorway, dripping wet and wild, glowing with purpose.  
  
"We have to go to the First Order. Now. Don't try to stop me, Chewie. I have to do this."  
  
Tossing out a final porg, he asked if she was going to go all wet from the rain. Or if there was time to dry off before she made herself sick?  
  
She blinked at him, as though just registering that she was soaked through. She looked down at her wet clothes rather sheepishly. "I suppose I should change first."  
  
\---  
  
As the ship tumbled on autopilot through hyperspace, Chewie stood in the hallway outside Rey's quarters, arms crossed, asking her again to explain herself.  
  
"There isn't any more to tell. I can't keep doing this with Luke," she shouted through the closed door. "He's not what I thought he'd be."  
  
Chewie growled out a protest. Luke was his friend, after all.  
  
"You've seen him. Do you really think he's going to come back and help the Resistance?"   
  
Chewie didn't respond. She had a point. It had been difficult to see what Luke had become.   
  
"No," she continued, "I was wrong to come to Skywalker. But can still help the Resistance. I found another way. I'm going to go to Ben."  
  
Ben? Ben who? Chewie was confused, and said so.   
  
"Ben Solo."  
  
Chewie froze. How long had it been since he'd heard that name? It conjured up memories of a little human bounding down the hall, laughing. Then, later, of that thing who had killed Han, that called itself Kylo Ren. Reconciling the two was difficult and truth be told, he had avoided thinking too hard about it until now.  
  
He was lost in thought and memory as she swung the door open, wearing fresh clothes he'd never seen before. More than that, she had tried to comb her hair, and what was that on her face...cosmetics? Her eyes seemed bigger somehow, her face softer.  
  
"Do...do I look alright, do you think?" She asked, turning a little pink. "Not that it matters, but…"  
  
Truth be told, Chewie had never understood human beauty standards. But he growled an affirmative, and it seemed to be what she wanted to hear.   
  
She was very young. He always forgot how young they all were. She had tried to pull her hair into a single bun at the back, but there were several pieces of hair sticking out. He motioned for her to turn around. He pulled the bun free and began to rework it for her, smoothing it out.  
  
They stood in silence for several moments while he fixed her hair, then Rey said, unprompted: "He's going to turn back to the light, Chewie. I've seen it. I'll help him and I'll bring Ben Solo back."   
  
He felt a stab at his heart again, upon hearing that old name, and his fingers slipped as they twisted her hair up to finish the bun. He asked her how she'd seen it.   
  
"The Force connected us. We talked. And when our hands touched..." She spun around and looked up into his face. "I saw it. I can do this. I just need you to get me there. I need to be with him."  
  
In a sudden flash of realization, he realized there might be more to Rey's sudden interest in Han's son than just finding another Jedi. His gaze moved softly from the fresh clothes to the paint on her face to the new hairstyle.  
  
For his part, he wanted to believe her so badly. He liked Rey, truly. She was loyal with a big heart, and that resonated with him. Her purpose had kept him grounded after Han died. And if that purpose meant saving Han's son, changing him back from that thing on the bridge, well...it could mean something. It could mean everything.   
  
Coming back to himself, he realized she was still waiting on an answer. Would he help pilot the ship right into the First Order? Sure, he'd done crazier things for his human family.   
  
He smoothed her hair again and nodded.   
  
"Thank you," she said. She leaned forward to hug him, then sprinted off to the cockpit. He followed, as he always did, a few feet behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoyed this. Please consider leaving a comment or kudos if you enjoyed -- I'd love to hear your thoughts about this or any of these one-shots.
> 
> References/Inspirations:  
> -it could mean something it could mean everything is a line from Mary Oliver's poem The Invitation (one of my faves, I got the title for one of my other fics from that poem as well)  
> -I saw a joke Tumblr post of Chewie giving Rey a makeover on the way to the First Order. I couldn't find it, but if I do I will link it.  
> -A long car ride.


	18. Day 27: Back in a minute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 27: Another missing scene, this one from Empire. As Echo Base is being bombarded, Han runs back to get Leia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Prompt 27 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “give me that"
> 
> I wrote this on my phone while riding a Disney bus with a truly awful techno remix of the star wars theme playing. I'm posting it from the Disney skyliner. So I apologize for any formatting issues or general weirdness. 
> 
> Warnings/Tags: ESB missing scene, no warnings.

A low tone sounded in the darkened cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. Chewie, already in the copilot seat, growled out a warning to Han, who came barreling down the hallway, thrown forward by a sudden tremor of the earth around their ship. The Imperial bombardment on Echo Base was getting worse.

“Millennium Falcon, do you copy?” came muffled from a communications headset.

Han dropped into the pilot seat and picked up the headset, hooking it around his ear.

“Yeah, I copy. We about ready to go?” another tremor shook the hanger, sending tiny avalanches of snow down from the ceiling. “Things are getting rough out here.”

“Understood, Captain Solo. You are cleared to leave with the next group. Follow the marshaller when your turn comes.”

“Thanks," he said. He was handing the headset over to Chewie when a thought occurred to him. Leia. He swore inwardly."Give me that," he snatched the headset back. He couldn’t believe he was doing this, but: “Flight Command, this the the Falcon again. Has the Princess left yet?”

“Princess Leia is still in the communications hallway," came the response”

“Of course she is,” Han said under his breath. Into the headset, he snapped: “Don't you think you should get her onto one?"

"She insisted--"

"Of course she did. How many transports are left?”

“There is one more, after this one.”

Han was a gambler, always had been. One part of being a gambler was being able to see three steps ahead of everyone else. Another part was knowing when to walk away. That was the part he always struggled with. It had led to some big wins and some devastating losses. He could see two different lives stretching out in front of him. In one, he left right now, let Leia work herself to death and end up a martyr or something. In this vision he forgot about her, went back to Tatooine, paid off his debt to Jabba, and continued the same as he ever had. Sure, he’d intend to look-up Luke and the others. Hell, Chewie would probably even remind him. But he’d never do it. He’d get caught up in the next scheme and that would be that. It wasn’t a bad life, as they go.

Or:

In another life, he went back. He found the Princess and...and then what?

She was so buttoned up. But she could also be fun. And there was something about the curve of her mouth when she smiled, that sardonic little smile when she was trying not to break, not to laugh. She liked him, he could tell and he...well.... A guy like him and a princess like her? Luke said he didn't see it. But she liked him, he knew it. And for whatever reason (and definitely not because he cared), he, Han, couldn't stand the idea of her dying on this base. Of her not being in the galaxy. And anyway, if she died now she'd never know that he was right, that she did have feelings for him. That was what made the decision for him.

“Look, Chewie, I gotta make sure she gets on her ship. I'll be right back." Chewie cocked his head to the side questioningly and Han shrugged. "Luke’d kill me if something happened to her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Inspirations/References:  
> -Always been interested in the scenes between scenes and I like writing them. I'm interested in the thought process that made Han go back. I will probably clean this up and post it for real outside this collection in future. Let me know what you think. 
> 
> Even though October ends today, I am going to keep posting until I've filled all the prompts. So hopefully see you tomorrow!


	19. Day 21: Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 21: Lonely and hurt, a young Rey gets a flash of comfort and reassurance from a bond she assumes comes from her parents. Across the galaxy, Ben Solo tries to forget the strange connection to an unknown girl ever happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Prompt 21 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “this, this makes it all worth it"
> 
> I like the idea that Rey and Ben communicated in some way, even if neither was sure what was happening, long before they first met. 
> 
> I wanted to try something a little different and experiment with tenses a bit. It was an interesting exercise. I wanted to keep going, but I ran out of time. This is another that I'd like to come back to when I have more time. I'm still following my self-imposed rules of writing each in just few hours of free time I have each day, though I am taking the prompts out of order if I feel stuck. 
> 
> As always, a tremendous thank you to the very kind folks who have left comments and kudos. You are the very best people. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags:** young rey, pre-TFA Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, reylo/force dyad mention

One moment the floor is solid beneath her, in the next it has fallen away. She should have seen the cracks in the floor, should have anticipated that they wouldn’t bear even her slight weight. But she didn’t. And as the floor finally gives out, it carries Rey with it. 

She is falling, she is tumbling, down and down the twisted decks of a downed carrier. She scrabbles against the vertical decks, hand slipping as rusted metal falls away. She tries to orient herself, but the darkness goes on forever...except for the glint of her glowlamp, which has crashed below her and rolled away. She tries to fling herself in its direction, to twist her body mid-air. She reached out a hand towards the light, as though she possesses some magic that can will herself there. 

She hits the deck, hard and slides to a stop, crashing into a pile of picked over and stripped electronics. 

She is crying, but trying not to, her jaw clenched as silent tears track down her cheeks. She must have lost consciousness, because it’s now cold, as though the warmth of the desert sun no longer beats on the hull of the ship. She feels too weak to move. She knows better than to shout for help. She is alone. There is no one to come. No one who would care. 

But she can take care of herself; she knows what to do. She shrugs off the strip of long cloth wound through her belt. She cracks another glowtube and by its faint light, she wraps the fabric around the cuts along her arms. It will stem the bleeding until she can get home and attend to it properly. But can feel the blood beating beneath the bindings beating out the rhythm of her heartbeat: Alone. Alone. Alone. 

She’s crying. She knows she shouldn’t be. She should be focusing, should be looking around to see if there is anything around her that will make this trip worth it. And beyond that, Brave girls don’t cry, and she promised to be brave. If she can be good and she can be strong, she reminds herself, then when her parents come back for her, they will be happy. 

They will want her back. 

Because that’s the fear is always at the back of her head: even after all the faithful waiting, they won’t want her. It’s been such a long time. She marks the days on the wall, one by one, each scratch in the wall another day closer to not being alone. Look at how long I waited, she will tell them when they come for her, look at how many days I was good and brave and strong just like you told me to be. A sudden thought occurs to her: if she was here all night, she couldn’t mark the day. If she didn’t mark the day, then how would they know she was brave? What if they came right now, how would they find her --

She spirals, these thoughts flashing through her head. Her thoughts threaten to drown her, to pull her in, and then, right when she thought that all was lost, that she would be eaten by this great, dark, dead ship she feels...something. It was a presence. Like a ghost of a wisp of a memory. It is warm, like a balm flowing in through the cracks of her heart.  _ You’re okay _ , it seems to tell her.  _ You’re okay.  _ She feels comfort, a connection. Faint, but there. Enough to cut through the terror and reset her brain, anyway. She smiles. It’s her parents, it had to be. They are alive. They will come back for her. She just has to stay alive. She just has to trust them. The connection breaks, but the memory lingers like an afterimage on her heart. 

She opens her eyes and runs a hand over her face, wiping away dirt and grime and tears. She realizes that she’s in a space below decks. Shining her light around, she sees a glint. Metal wiring? She feels a bubble of hope in her chest. It must have been overlooked by other scavengers who were too big to fit into this crevice. This, this makes it all worth it. She’ll have to rest for a day to heal, but this find will keep her belly full until she is at full strength again. Maybe even beyond. She will make it. 

-

A galaxy away, a boy blinks. His hands shake and he places them, palm down, on the table in front of him to still them. His brow wrinkles as he tries to understand what has just happened. A girl? He thought perhaps he’d imagined her, but it felt real. In the rush of connection, now gone, he felt her pain, her loneliness. He knows these feelings all too well. 

He shares everything with his new Master, Snoke, every thought and feeling...except this one. Not this, not her. Whoever she is, this girl, the strange connection was too deep and too personal. He folds the thought away, places it a small box, and tucks it away in a corner of his mind. He hides it so well that even he forgets it’s there. The days years tick by, until one day someone tells him about a girl who escaped. And though there is no reason why the two should be connected, he feels the memory unfold in his mind. A reminder of when he once showed compassion. 

“What girl?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this one. As ever, I'd encourage you to leave a comment or kudos. I truly enjoy hearing your thoughts on these little stories.
> 
> See you soon!
> 
> Inspirations/References:  
> -A screenshot I saw somewhere of the Rise of Kylo Ren comic where Rey feels when Ben tips over to the darkside (or something? I haven't actually read the comic yet...)  
> -The song "Catch me I'm falling" from next to normal  
> -Just wanting to try something different.


	20. Day 31: Force Skype Session #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #31: Rey asks a question, Kylo Ren makes a choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Prompt 31 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “I trust you"
> 
> It feels like Tuesday the 4th-Saturday the 7th were all one big sleepless day while we waited for the USA Presidential election results to be called, so I wrote it then to try to distract myself. I skipped to the ending prompt, though I'm still planning to complete the rest as well. Though each chapter was supposed to be unconnected, I've sort of ended up writing myself into a couple of different universes. Today's entry would tie into the same world as the previous Force Skype Session as well as the last chapter. 
> 
> As always, a tremendous thank you to the very kind folks who have left comments and kudos. I appreciate you beyond words. 
> 
> **Warnings/Tags:** reylo

Rey felt the blaster bolt make contact half a second before she felt the pain. It was just heat, at first. Heat and pressure. It soon resolved itself into pain and she cried out, dropping her weapon and clutching her side as her senses faded in and out. She heard people calling her name, felt herself being dragged away. Rose’s eyes swam in front of her vision and felt herself being propped up against a cold wall. There was another figure on her other side. Finn. 

“The doors aren’t open, they were supposed to open!" Finn said to Rose in a frantic voice.

“I know, I know.”

“You need to make them open.” He gestured towards a computer terminal. Rose shook her head."

“I will, give me time. I’m not a hacker.”

“You can do it, Rose, I know it.”

“Okay, you hold the door. I’ll get into this computer system? Deal?”

Rey tried to will herself to stand. She had to help Finn. Had to protect Rose. Her legs wouldn’t cooperate. She thought she saw Finn take Rose’s hand and kiss it lightly. “Deal.” he said. Then Finn was gone. She heard the clatter of Rose’s fingers flying against keys. 

“You’re hurt.”

The voice came, low and clear, cutting across the sound of Rose’s typing, cutting across all other sounds as the bond always did. Rey’s ragged breathing was still audible.

“Brilliant deduction, Supreme Leader," she said, wincing. "It looks like your lackeys have gotten to me after all. “

With a swish of his cape, he dropped to his knees beside her. “They aren’t supposed to hurt you,” a furrow appeared between his eyebrows. “I’ve ordered them not to hurt you.”

She pulled her arm away, so that he could see the cauterized mass of red flesh at her side. “You might want to talk to your troops, because not everyone got that message.” 

He didn’t visibly react at first, didn’t make a sound beyond a slight intake of breath. But she thought she saw his lips draw back slightly, his eyes widen, as he looked at the wound. She could feel, through the Force, that his emotions were a whirlwind. She had been honing this particular ability, over the past months. Years and years alone had made it difficult, sometimes, for her to judge the nuance of expression and discern their meanings. But you couldn’t hide from the Force. And in that, she felt his willingness to help her. It was comforting, in some ways, to know that after everything, he cared. It filled her with a strange hope. And yet, she remembered when they had been face to face, and he’d tried to force her to give up everything she cared about. 

“You know where I am,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.”

“You know what I need.”

“Yes.”

There was a long silence. He was fiddling with something outside of her view.

“Look, I’ll lay it out. If you can tell me how to get into the computer here and open the stormtrooper recruits’ doors, I’ll...I’ll…” she wanted to say _I’ll give myself up,_ but couldn’t quite do it. She had nothing to offer but herself. “You want me to listen to you, to hear you out. Tell me how to get into this computer, and I’ll do it. I’ll hear your out.”

“That’s not how I want that.” He said, anger and frustration evident in his voice. He wanted her to give himself to him freely, as she had before. Coincidentally, that was the same thing she wanted of him. But neither of them seemed to be able to meet the other, this was their biggest hurdle. She sighed. “It’s all I’ve got, Ben.”

“That’s not my name.” He said it quietly. 

“It is. It is your name. Ben Solo. You’re a good person, I know it, I can feel it, even if you can’t.” He drew back and shook his head. She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to pull herself up further. “Oh, I’m sorry, Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the Galaxy, who is begging an injured nobody to talk him. How silly of me not use your full address, ahhh! --” she winced in pain and doubled over. It hurt so much. And even with Rose there, she felt so alone. She left like --

“It reminds you of when you were a child,” he said, and she realized with an internal shudder that she wasn't the only one who could read thoughts across the Force. “When you hurt yourself in that old star destroyer, beached on Jakku. You fell so far, it tore open your arm. There was no one to hear you, then. No one but --” he stopped, coming into the realization the same time she did. 

"No one but you," she offered. Her breathing was labored, but her mind still worked. She felt relief, after all these years, to know. 

"You thought it was your parents."

"I did," she admitted. "But it was you who heard me. I felt someone, telling me to hold on, to keep going. It was you. You kept me alive.”

He ducked his head, swallowed hard. The pain was getting to be too much and she fought against the loss of consciousness. She forced herself to continue: “I can’t believe that the man who helped me then would abandon me now. Will you?”

“You...trust me?”

"I’ve always trusted the person who helped me, all those years ago. I trust the man who killed Snoke for me, who fought side by side with me. If that’s who you are, then I trust you. Or are you Kylo Ren now?”

“If I tell you how to open the doors, they still might not fight for you.”

“They’ll fight for us.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because, no dictator, no invader, can keep a population imprisoned by force. Not forever. People will break free. Nothing you say to me will change that.”

His fist clenched at his side, then loosened. He looked at her, his eyes softened and he looked lost. 

“Rey, I need you to believe me. I never wanted to enslave anyone.”

“Bit late for that.”

“Haven’t you ever found yourself pulled along, until it was too late?”

She thought about it. Her life had certainly moved very quickly since joining the Resistance. Sometimes it all did feel out of her control. But that was, again, his fault. He had pursued them, pursued her, across the galaxy. 

"You know where I am, you know what I need," she repeated. "Will you give it to me?"

“You’re on Planterra, at the stromtrooper training facility. All of the stormtroopper recruits' rooms were sealed when the facility went into lockdown. You need the the control codes to open the rooms."

"Yes."

“I don’t know them.”

“Find them.”

She saw him look away, consulting a terminal. Only when he was focused on that did she allow herself to feel the pain of her wound. She choked back a cry of pain. She thought she saw his back stiffen in response...but no, she must have been imagining it.

The strange quiet that she and Kylo Ren inhabited pressed in on her. She could see where he stood at his console, but she could also see where Finn and Poe were, firing off shots as they held the line. For her part, Rose was still typing diligently at her console, chewing her lip, and focused wholly on the screen in front of her. The sound of blaster fire and shouting grew nearer, 

“Ben…” Rey said, surprised with how calm her sounded. “Either you help us now, or we’re dead. _I’m_ dead.”

"Rey." He looked up at her and there was that same light, same decisiveness in his eyes she’d seen when he’d called his saber to her in Snoke's throne room. “Serial number XO7Y39-Alpha. Security code: obsidian.” 

Had she been stronger, Rey could have kissed him in that moment, but instead, she willed her head to turn towards Rose.

“Rose,” she croaked out. Her voice was somehow fainter, in the real world, than it was in the world she shared with Ben. “Rose. I know the code.”

“What?” Rose asked, "Oh, Rey, you look awful, hold on, I'll --"

With an effort, Rey shook her head. She repeated the code, letter for letter, that she'd been given. 

“You’re sure?” Rose asked. 

Rey looked over at Ben. He was following Rey’s gaze, staring in the space where Rose stood, as though trying to see her. She felt, with a shudder, as though he could. 

“I’m sure.”

"Just a minute...” Rose finished inputting the codes and clicked the send. There was a tense moment, then they heard the doors flash open as every stormtrooper cadet’s cell opened up. There was a loud cry as these new combatants joined the fray.

“That worked, Rey!!” Rose looked at her, renewed hope in her eyes. “Let me tell Finn -- Finn!!” she darted back out of the room. Rey closed her eyes. 

“Thank you,” Rey said to him, Ben, Kylo, whatever he called himself. 

“You’ll get yourself to a healer.” He was doing something now, at her side, she could feel the wounded area go numb as something cold and gelatinous touched her fevered skin. “You’ll take care of yourself.” It was not a question. Rey nodded. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Rose was back at her side. 

“They’re joining us, all of them are joining us, we’re going to get out of here...oh, good, you've already started putting bacta patches on,“ Rose said, reaching into her belt and pulling out a medicinal patch. Rey knew she had done no such thing. She looked around and found Ben, fading out of her vision, but still there, the wrapper from a large bacta patch in his hand. He was looking at her intently. Completely unaware of his presence, Rose continued her ministrations. “We’re going to be okay, you just stay with me, Rey, okay?”

Rey nodded, eyes still locked with Ben’s. "I'll stay with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> (I promise we will take a break from the reylo for the next entry).
> 
> References/Inspirations:  
> -The unlock code is from Babylon 5, but that's a deep cut (even I had to look it up).  
> -Extreme sleep deprivation between 11/4 and 11/7 while waiting on USA Presidential election results.  
> -I honestly have no memory of writing any of this.


	21. Prompt 26: Plans within Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #26: Luke and Leia have words while plotting to free Han from Jabba's Palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Prompt 26 of the Fictober2020 Event's prompts!
> 
> Today's prompt is: “how about you trust me for once"
> 
> First: A shot out as usual to the folks who have left kudos, even this late in the game. If you enjoy this or any chapter in this work, I'd ask you to please leave a comment as I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Second: though it is now December, I am following the same rules I set for myself in October: write one (or two) prompts a day, in the hours after work and before bedtime. 
> 
> I did solemnly promise that I wouldn't do reylo as the next one, so here is some more Leia and Luke bickering (and connecting as friends) over the plan to raid Jabba's Palace. 
> 
> See endnotes for references/inspirations/meta
> 
> Warnings/Tags: Sibling bickering, some angst.

"Do I have to do everything here?" 

“You want me to trust you? After what you and Han got into?”

“ _Luke_!”

“ _Leia_!”

They stared each other down, two immovable objects leaning forward in nearly identical poses. The holotable between them was littered with tablets, flimsies, half-scribbled notes, old kaf mugs, dirty plates, and broken styluses. In the center of the mess, a layout of Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine glowed an intermittent blue. Wordlessly, they glared at each other.

Surprisingly, Leia was the first one to break eye contact. She paced away, armed crossed, and Luke felt a moment of triumph -- then she wheeled to face him.

“I don’t see what your problem is," she said in precise, clipped tones. She sounded haughty, almost bored, as though his concerns were too base to even remark on. 

“What my  _ problem _ is that your plan is needlessly complicated. While you’re waiting for all these pieces to fit together, Han could be dying.”

Leia flinched as though he had slapped her. Luke felt, again a moment of triumph, before she rallied again. 

“Jabba wants to use him as trophy -- you said that  _ yourself: ' _ the Hutts love that kind of thing.' They’ll keep him alive. They have to.”

“And if you’re wrong??”

In answer to this, Leia drew her eyebrows together and pointed at him. “How about you trust me for once, hmm?” Luke was momentarily nonplussed. The expression and gesture...they were  _ so _ Han. Leia wore them like a child trying on their parents' clothes. Luke shook his head and laughed. 

“What? What is it? Do you think this is funny --” she demanded. She shifted her hands to her hips, a gesture entirely her own.

“No, it’s nothing --” She raised an eyebrow at him and he continued: “You sounded just like him there, like Han.”

Leia shut her eyes and took in a deep shuddering breath. “Oh no, he’s rubbing off on me.”

Luke suppressed a smile. “Looks like it.”

She let out a long sigh. “I’m serious. Luke. I need you to trust me here. I’ve trusted you since the beginning -- since you broke into my cell in that ridiculous stormtrooper armor. And I trusted you when I heard you on Bespin.”

There it was. The thing they’d avoided talking about. He’d dreaded her asking about it because, in truth, he didn’t know what it meant either. He’d been reaching out for old Ben Kenobi, searching the Force for someone familiar. But he’d found her instead. 

“I heard you, I heard your voice in my head and I trusted it. Now it’s your turn to trust me. Just walking into Jabba’s palace and demanding that he let Han go -- that’s not going to work. We need layers, plans within plans and failsafes if this is going to work.”

He looked into her face, into her earnest and somewhat pleading expression. He could feel her hurt, pulsing beneath her brave and impenetrable surface. 

“But why can’t we just break in and grab him?” Luke asked. “If we were fast enough --”

But Leia had already cut him off with a hand wave. "No, no, that won't work. If you'd just listen..." she gestured over her holo of Jabba’s Palace, talking rapidly but with a confident cadence. Her eyes were full of excitement and purpose. She liked this, Luke realized studying her, this planning. She thrived on it. And he knew that however unnecessary this may seem to him, she would be able to convince the others. That fire in her eyes would ignite even the weakest kindling. 

As he turned this over in his mind, he had another flash of insight. “You miss him.” He’d said it out loud without realizing it. Leia looped up and raised an eyebrow at him, as though he was an exceptionally slow child asking an impertinent question. He opened his mouth to retort, but she beat him to it.

“Do I miss Han? Yes, Luke, we...we talked about this. Han and I, we --”

But Luke shook his head, and leaned forward across the table, cutting _her_ off this time. “No. You father. You miss him.” He gestured towards the table, the notes. “This is the kind of thing you used to do with him. Go over a plan. And you miss it.”

A normal person might have been upset, confused as to how he could have known this. But not Leia. She took it in her stride. Without betraying any emotion, she leaned back against the console, regarding him, arms crossed. Finally, she said: 

“You want to go there? Okay. I was adopted as a baby, but he and my mother were the only parents I ever knew. I loved my mother, but my father and I were very close," she paused for a moment, gathering herself. "Sometimes I miss him so much. Too much. I miss all of Alderaan. And I wish --" he could have sworn her voice cracked slightly before she could rein it under control, "I wish more than anything I could talk to him. Even when we both so busy, he would always write or record a message. That’s the hardest, I think...knowing he’ll never write to me again.” She paused and Luke felt as though something was unlocking within her, he was seeing a part of Leia that he had never seen before. But at the same time, he was thinking of himself. His adoptive parents had never written to him. They hadn't needed to; he'd hardly been out of yelling distance in his whole life. Of his own father, what he’d thought of him, what he’d turned out to be. How would Leia feel when one day she learned that  _ his _ father had been instrumental in killing hers, and her whole planet? 

Leia saved him any further thought by pressing onwards: "But I can’t stop. I can’t mourn. Not him or my mother or my aunts or all of Alderaan. Not now. And I won’t, I  _ can’t _ lose anyone else.” She was pointing at him again, that Han Solo gesture that was so incongruous to her small form. Her eyes were overbright, but Luke didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to comfort her. So instead, he just nodded. 

“I was adopted, too,” he said, after a moment, wanting to offer some common ground. “My aunt and uncle took me in, anyway. After,” he hesitated for a fraction of a second before continuing, “after my parents died.”

“In the clone wars?”

Luke nodded. It was the easiest explanation and note entirely a lie. Maybe that's why his aunt and uncle had gravitated towards it. “And now Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru...they’re gone too. Killed by the Empire, they --” in his mind he saw again the charred remains of their homestead. He felt anger and tried to distance himself, pull away. Master Yoda had told him where anger led. He cast his eyes around the room, trying to find something else to hold on to. He found it in Leia. She held his gaze, firm and steadfast despite her own tears. 

They stood in silence for a moment. They were each deep in a grief that was both shared and unimaginable to the other. Then, tentatively, Luke said:

“Well, I think your father would be proud of you.”

“Really?” Leia asked, incredulous. “I lost most of my men, the people I was responsible for, on Hoth. Even this plan...we’re not going after the Empire, we’re going after one man, we --”

“But you’re still moving forward, still carrying his dream. That counts for something, right?”

Leia looked at him sideways. “Are you trying to make me feel better?”

“Yes?”

She laughed a little. “For what it’s worth, it’s working.” Then, more seriously: “Thank you.”

“And for what it’s worth, I do trust you." He held out his hands, gesturing at the table below them. “Tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it.” As he said it, he realized that for him, it really want that easy. He could help Han and make Leia feel better, so he’d do it. And her plan hadn’t been that bad, it just took too long. But if it meant success...maybe that was part of the lesson that Master Yoda had been trying to impart as he'd left. If he could see something through, not get distracted...

Ironically, he was then distracted by Leia clearing her throat. He looked up at her expectantly. All trace of grief in her face was now gone, replaced instead with an almost mad fervor.

“I might need you to play an all-knowing and mysterious Jedi,” she tilted her head to the side, regarding critically. “Think you're up for it?"

Luke smiled wryly. "I'll do my best. What else?"

“Rule One: always have a man on the inside. I bet we could get someone on Jabba’s guard staff easily enough...” she looked up at him meaningfully. 

“Me? I don’t --”

“No, Lando.”

“He’ll do it? I thought you said --”

“He owes me a favor,” Leia replied, eyes flashing. “He’ll do it.”    
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed. More to come soon! I will finish these prompts or die trying!! 
> 
> References/Inspirations:  
> -That line from HP6 where Harry tries to explain his grief to Dumbledore by saying that it's just sad that Sirius won't write to him again.   
> -The fact that Leia never really gets/allows herself time to grieve? That's not healthy, right???  
> -I wanted to have something where the two of them could connect over shared trauma and also shared hope for the future. And I wanted to mimic the bickering style that I set up in Day 5's entry. I actually that one for my younger brother in reference to many a similar spat we've had.   
> -too much wine, not enough proofreading (sorry!)


End file.
